Gossip World
by kialajaray
Summary: Chad and Taylor can't stand each other, but Taylor is secretly in love with him. What happens when things start to change between them? Then there's the school gossip column that's reporting everyone's business. MAJOR CHAYLOR minor everyone else.
1. after school dilemma

**summary: Chad and Taylor can't stand each other, but Taylor secretly had feelings for Chad. Then there's a little problem with the school's gossip column that everyone had to worry about.**

**ok i started writing this a few months ago and i only have about 2 or 3 chapters left. its a chaylor with minor everyone else, but mainly zekepay. if you've read romancing mr. bridgerton by julia quinn, then you know about the story already. i hope you like it.**

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_Happy Monday EHS. I hope that everyone's weekend went well. Even if yours did, not everyone was so lucky. I'm happy to report that Martha Cox got the role of Tracy Turnblad in the school's upcoming production of Hairspray, though I can't say the same for everyone. Sharpay Evans was seen storming away from the list as she read that she would play a supporting role as Penny Pingleton._

_But that doesn't seem to stop her from continuing to chase after Troy Bolton. She doesn't seem to know that Troy has his eye on someone else, but I won't release the name. (Just to let you know Troy, she likes you too.) Too bad Sharpay can't see how crazy Zeke Baylor is over her._

_Back to the musical production, Ryan Evans got the role of Link Larkin, and Kelsie Neilson was talked into playing the role of Amber von Tussle. I haven't ever seen a mean bone in her body, so maybe she should get some tips from Sharpay, who I personally think would have been better for the role._

_In other news, Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie were seen arguing again in the hallways. You'd figure that after almost four years in high school, they would have called it quits. Obviously, that's not the case with these two. While it's unclear who or what started the fight, they were seen arguing and almost coming to blows before Gabriella Montez was able to pull her friend away before anyone was injured._

_While Rebecca "Becky" Sterling was seen taking up for her boyfriend, Chad, everything isn't rosy between them. From sources that I won't reveal, they were seen arguing Friday afternoon in the gym. I can only wonder at what. It seems that it was a heated argument that had them both storming off in opposite directions. But don't worry EHS. If they break up, I'll be the first to know._

_While they were arguing it seems that…_

Gabriella's voice drifted off as she put the sheet of paper down. They were in the crowded hallway of East High, just like everyone else. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday there was a paper put out called Gossip World and everyone raced to be the first to get it. The thing about the paper was that no one knew who wrote it. It just showed up one day in the front of the school. When everyone realized that if was a gossip column that didn't hold back with the names or what kind of gossip that it had, it was the talk of the school for weeks. And the fact that there was a new one every other day wasn't bad either.

Mr. Matsui tired really hard for the first few weeks to stop the paper. He thought it was a defamation of character to anyone who was written about, maybe because he was mentioned in an early issue, and after he found out that the official school newspaper had nothing to do with it, he went on a manhunt to find out who the author was. He would take the papers away, but some students would have them already and let others see them, then he had people staked out at different spots to catch who would ever out the paper stands down. That didn't work either. No matter where he would have people staked out, Gossip World would always be put where he didn't expect and the students would get to it.

Grasping at straws, he even tried to bribe people, not that it had worked. By then the whole school, even the teachers because it mentioned gossip about them too, were addicted. So, even though he didn't want to, he gave in and let the paper go out to the students. Some said it was because he was just as addicted to the paper as everyone else, while others said it was because he made a deal with the author. No one knew the real truth however, except of course him and who ever the author was. Either way, the students gave a big sigh of relief when they were finally allowed to read the paper and not risk detention.

"Look Taylor," Gabriella said to her friend. "You're mentioned in this one."

Having read it already, Taylor rolled her eyes. "Yeah for arguing with Chad." She said he's name like it was the vilest thing in the world. Taylor knew that everyone else wouldn't think twice about them arguing, they did it practically everyday. She was surprised that it had even made the paper. It wasn't even anything special about this fight. Other than Becky making her snide remarks that almost had Taylor pulling out all of her hair, it was just another fight between the two.

No one really knew exactly when Taylor and Chad started to hate each, but that's what it was. Taylor thought that Chad was a arrogant, obnoxious, rude, over-bearing, lunk headed jock. And Chad thought she was a stuck-up, aggravating, even more arrogant nerd. They didn't get along, and she doubted that they ever would and that's the way she liked it.

At least that what she had everyone think. The truth was that she had been crazy about Chad Danforth since the beginning of high school. Not that she had told anyone, ever, or that anyone had guessed, thankfully. Sometimes she even started an argument just to have a reason to talk to him. She knew it was sad and kind of desperate, but she didn't care. No one in school suspected anything, except maybe Gabby, but anytime she would ask Taylor, Taylor would just deny it like it was nothing and the subject would be dropped.

Finally answering her friend, she said "So were you. We've both been mentioned in Gossip World. And I've been mentioned more times than I can or want to count. She's been writing since we were freshman, remember? You got lucky because you didn't transfer here until we were juniors."

It was Gabby's turn to roll her eyes. "Yes, I know. You've told me this many times before." She laughed as Taylor gave her a glare. "But I was barely mentioned in today. All it says was that I broke up a fight between you two. I wasn't mentioned any other time." Taylor looked at her friend dumbly. To be so smart, sometimes Gabby failed to notice the obvious.

"At the top. Where it says Troy has his eye on someone else. She was talking about you." Turning red, Gabriella replied, "There are plenty of girls in this school who like Troy. Why would he like me? We don't even talk to each other that much."

"Which means what?" Taylor replied. "Anybody can see the looks you two give each other. I mean it could be worse, it could be you and Chad." She said the last giving a shudder.

Laughing as they walked to their lockers, Gabby said, "I wonder how she knows that Troy likes me. Not that I believe it of course."

"She knows everything." Taylor said. "I wonder if we're ever going to find out who she is."

"At first I thought it was Sharpay." Gabby said as she opened her locker.

"That's what everyone thought at first. Then she was put in Gossip World about flirting with a guy who everyone knew had a girlfriend freshman year. The word home wrecker was thrown around and Sharpay was livid. I think that if she ever found out who writes Gossip World, she'd kill them. The whole school just might, I mean she has talked about just everyone here." Taylor said.

"Who do you think it is?" Her friend asked her as they left her locker and started to go to Taylor's. "I don't know. Everybody has been accused at one point of another. I couldn't really care who it was to be honest."

"Come on." Her friend said. "You have to think of someone that it could be." Thinking that her friend never gives up, Taylor answered her. "Well it would have to be someone who no one suspects. Either that or someone everyone would suspect."

Gabby looked at her confusedly. "And how would that work out?"

"Think about it this way. You know how I just said that everyone thought it was Sharpay?" At her friend's nod she continued. "It was the most obvious so that would be to easy. Why start the gossip column anonymously if you're going to get caught?"

"Oh. I get it." Gabby said. "So why not write about yourself and have a fit. That would take all the attention away from you."

"Exactly." Taylor said as they got to her locker. As she opened her locker she continued. "And whoever said that it was a girl?"

Gabby shook her head at her. "If it was a boy then why would the author called themselves Miss Gossip?"

"To throw off suspicion of course. If you were a male, wouldn't that be the easiest way to go undetected?"

"You have a point." Gabby told her. "But I still think that it's a girl. And I'm not to sure that it's someone popular like you said. I think that it would be someone quiet that no one suspected."

"Like you?" Taylor told her jokingly as they left her locker and walked down the hall.

"No, not me. It was published before I got here remember. But maybe someone like me. It could be you for all we know."

Before her friend could answer her, a voice from behind them said, "I seriously doubt that. Little Miss Nerd over here has her face shoved into a book to much to actually hear what someone says that isn't about school, let alone write a gossip column about it."

She heard Gabby groan as she felt a huge wave of butterflies in her stomach. Not that it showed of course. Taylor had lots, years actually, of practice to hide them. She turned to give Chad, who was with his teammates, a glare. "And your brain is entirely to small to comprehend what a complete sentence is, let alone," She mocked. "write a whole gossip column. I don't believe that neither me nor Gabby were talking to you. Why don't you go work on your jump shot, from what I've heard, you've been off lately."

Taylor knew it was a mistake to say that the moment it left her mouth. She had learned a while ago that Chad was highly sensitive about the sports he played. If a person were to insult him about that, they were just asking Chad to hurt their feelings. She saw him open his mouth, waiting for him to strike, when a voice from behind the boys said, "Don't you two have anything better to do than argue?" It was Sharpay. Taylor had never been happier to see her in her life.

She heard Gabby groan again. Sharpay wasn't one of her favorite people. Sharpay knew that Gabby like Troy, so she saw her as competition. Gabby tried to get along with her, but nothing she did seem to work, so Gabby finally gave up. And there surely wasn't any love lost on Sharpay's end either. "Hi Sharpay." She heard Zeke say eagerly and had to fight the urge to sigh and shake her head. Everyone knew that Zeke was crazy over Sharpay, even Sharpay herself. Not that it stopped her from trying to get Troy right in from of him.

Taylor didn't think that Sharpay did it intentionally to hurt Zeke, it was just that when it came to Troy, she got kind of irrational. Sharpay wasn't the bitch that everyone thought she was. Well, Taylor didn't like lying to herself. Sharpay was a bitch, just not as much as of one as people thought. She could be a really sweet person. When it came to something that she didn't want at least. But what she did next surprised everyone. "Hi Zeke. How are you?" Taylor had to fight to keep her mouth closed. But the others, Zeke included, weren't so lucky.

Sharpay barely spoke to Zeke and whenever he spoke to her, she would either tell him something dismissively, or ignore him all together. Composing himself, Zeke said, "Sorry you didn't get the lead in Hairspray like you wanted."

She surprised everyone even more as she smiled to him and said, "I wouldn't have been good for the part anyway. And it would have been weird if I was Tracy and Ryan was Link. Martha will be a better Tracy for Ryan." She said the last, shooting Ryan a look that Taylor didn't think that anyone but herself caught. Seeing Ryan turn a little red, she knew that Miss Gossip would have something else to talk about in her column.

"You feeling o.k. Sharpay?" Chad asked her, trying to touch her forehead.

Glaring at him as she hit his hand away, she said, "I'm fine. But answer my question. Don't you have something better to do than argue with Taylor everyday?"

Chad gave a smirk that made Taylor's knees go weak. "She's such an easy target, so why not." Giving Chad the middle finger, Taylor turned to Sharpay and said, "I have better things to do. But since he won't crawl back under the rock he came from, I guess he doesn't." Turning to Gabby she said, "Are you ready?"

As she walked away with her friend, she thought she heard Chad say something, but he was cut off by his friends. Most likely telling him to let it go. Not that he would. And not that Taylor would want him to either. East High wasn't as segregated by cliques as much as other schools, but they still were to some degree. So that meant that Chad and Taylor didn't interact with each other, unless of course to insult each other. So if Taylor could only talk to him when they argued, then that was fine with her. It wasn't as if that was what she wanted. She had tried to be nice to Chad, she really had. But anytime she did, it would end up in an argument anyway. So finally Taylor said forget it.

"Earth to Taylor." She heard Gabby say, brining her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry Gabby. What were you saying?"

Rolling her eyes, Gabby said, "Were you thinking about Chad again?"

Without missing a beat, Taylor answered, "Just more insults that I can tell him. But what did you say?"

Taylor had gotten used to Gabby asking her if she had feelings for Chad. She hoped that she was as good at pretending as she thought she was. Gabby looked at her for a moment, then finally said, "I said that Sharpay seemed weird today." Laughing as the bell rang, Taylor replied, "I never knew that being nice was acting weird."

"You know what I mean." She friend told her peevishly.

"Yeah, I do." Taylor said sighing as they walked into their homeroom class. "Maybe Miss Gossip got threw to her."

--

As Taylor finished the last paper, she sighed and rolled her neck from side to side. She got off and school early since she was a senior, but she always went back after school was over to grade papers for extra credit. She was thankful that it was math. Math was always easy. It only had one answer, but with science or English everything took ten times as long to correct.

As she listened to the radio, she let her mind wander over the Subject of Chad. That's what she called it, because she was just as irrational over Chad as Sharpay is--well maybe she should say was, if she had finally decided to get with Zeke--over Troy. The only difference between her and Sharpay was that she didn't go psycho with it like Sharpay did, oh and the little fact the it was a secret. But it could only be called the Subject of Chad, because it encompassed so much that there was a good chance the part of her brain had 'Chad' labeled on it.

The only person who knew for a fact the she had feelings for Chad was her youngest older sister, Tiffany. And that was because she couldn't hide anything from her. Taylor was one of six, and even though each of them were just separated by a year, except her twin brothers, she was closest to Tiffany. So when she asked Taylor point-blank if she had something for Chad, Taylor confessed. Taylor's family was a close one, so usually they would tease each other when they liked someone, but maybe it was the desperation in Taylor's voice when she begged her sister not to tell anyone, not even their mother, and thankfully Tiffany never said anything or teased her about it. After this week, most of her brothers and sisters were getting off from college for Christmas break and after two weeks and the rest of this one, Taylor would be out of school for winter break. She hadn't seen all her brothers and sisters at one time since the summer so she couldn't wait.

She let her mind wander, vaguely thinking that she should put the papers up and go home, but it went back to the original subject. She didn't think that she was obsessed, but she knew that she thought about Chad more than a human should think about one person. So maybe she was, that didn't mean she would stop. She was sure that if everyone one knew how much she thought about Chad, not to mention what she thought about when she thought of him, they'd be shocked. Other than Chad of course, who'd be horrified, and when that went away he would use it to his advantage. And there was no way in hell that Taylor was going to let that happen. She might be a love sick fool, but she did have her pride.

Forcibly taking her mind off of it's favorite subject, she started to think about what she was going to get everyone for Christmas. She had already bought her parents and siblings something, so the only people left were her friends. She had seen this really pretty-

Her thoughts were cut off as she heard a voice from the door say "You even do work after school? You're more of a nerd than I thought." Surprised, Taylor let out a small shriek and jumped in her chair, which almost caused her to fall out of it. She must have thought about him to much and conjured him out of thin air.

"Don't do that." She said peevishly as she put her hand over her heart.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I scare you," Chad asked her with a smirk.

Glaring at him, she started to stack the papers she had graded. Why hadn't she left when she could have? She couldn't be by herself in the same room with Chad. Not wouldn't, but couldn't. When it was in front of everyone, she was able to ignore the butterflies and everything else that he made her feel. But she couldn't if she was alone with him.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked her coolly. She'd never know for the life of her how she pulled it off.

Folding his arms in front of him, Chad surveyed the scene. "What are you doing," he asked her.

Taylor paused. They'd usually be at each other's throats by now. "Extra credit." Was all she said as she hurriedly tired to get the rest of the papers together. She watched Chad walk to the desk she was at and stand in front of it. Rolling his eyes, he said, "You have what, a 4.0? And you're doing extra credit? Have you ever heard of over achieving?"

Giving him another glare, she got out of the desk. "Did you ever stop to think that teachers have lives and families too? And maybe they don't want to spend the whole day grading papers? I do it so they don't have to. The extra credit is just a formality."

Brushing pasted him, she went to the teachers desk to put the papers away. Even though she didn't look back she could feel his eyes on her back. She had to do something before she embarrassed herself. So turning back to him, she decided to insult him. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot. You don't think." Walking past him, she went back to her desk.

She waited for his reply, which wasn't long in coming. "Well, excuse me if everyone can't be as smart and stuck up as you."

"Nothing is wrong with being smart. And there's a difference between being stuck up and not liking someone. When it comes to you, it's the latter." She said

"Why do you have to act like such a bitch?" He asked her.

Rolling her eyes as she tried to gather her things, she said, "The same reason you have to act like such a dick. And I can't seem to help myself when I'm around you." She blanched as she realized what she said. But before she could cover it up, Chad grabbed her hand and swung her around.

"I can't either." He said huskily as Taylor realized just how close their faces were. Before she could say anything or pull away, Chad lowered his head and captured her lips.

Taylor was shocked. This was her first kiss. She never had boyfriends or kissed anyone. If it wasn't Chad, then what was the point? But here he was kissing her, in a classroom where anyone could walk in. She thought to push him away until he ran his tongue across her bottom lip, asking for permission to enter. Taylor forgot everything but the way his mouth made her feel as she closed her eyes. Opening her mouth to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and threaded her hands threw his hair as he pulled her closer to him.

She knew that she would like kissing, and she had only imagined what it would be like to kiss Chad, but it was nothing compared to what it actually felt like. He picked her up and sat her on the desk top. She gasped as he ran his hands down from her shoulders to stomach. Shuddering, she arched into him, absorbed in the way she was feeling. She grabbed him by the waist ban of his jeans pulling him even closer to her. She ran her hands under his shirt, feeling the muscled plains of his stomach. Making a noise low in his throat, he deepened the kiss. She couldn't get enough of the way his skin felt under her hands. She ran her hands over his back, then she went back to his front and ran her hands over his chest.

She sucked in a breath as she felt his hands run up her thighs. He ran them slowly up and even threw her jeans, she could feel the heat of his hands. It felt like she was on fire. When he got to the top of her thighs, she felt his hands turn inward. Her breath caught as they inched closer and closer to her center. She let it out in a sound of disappointment as his hands moved from her legs to her stomach. She felt a smile form on his lips when he heard it.

Running his hands under her shirt, he stopped when he got to her breasts. He deftly pushed her bra up, as he left her mouth, and kissed her jaw and continued downward as he stopped at her neck. He lavished her pulse point with his tongue as his fingers played with her already hard nipple, making it a even harder point. She threw her head back and gave a low moan at what he was doing to her. Her breathe turned shallow and quick as he turned his attention to her other breast.

She took his head in her hands and moved it from her neck. As she looked into his eyes, she saw that the usual beautiful light brown was nearly black with desire. For her. Knowing that, she became more confident. She pressed her lips to his and felt him jump and shudder as she inserted her tongue in his mouth. His hands left her breasts and traveled slowly down her stomach. His hands stopped as he made contact with her jeans. Deepening the kiss, he slowly started to make his way under he jeans-

There was a gasp from the doorway.

Taylor and Chad froze then jumped apart from each other. Truth be told Taylor jerked away, because she was still sitting on the desk and would have fallen off if she tired to move any more with the way she was feeling. Trying to catch her breath, she looked to the doorway, seeing Kelsie Neilson, whose face was as red as a stop sign. Taylor thanked God that she and Chad still had all their clothes on. If Kelsie had come later, she really didn't know what she would have walked in on. Hurriedly fixing her clothes, Taylor turned to Kelsie silently asking her what she wanted.

"Uhh…I was looking for the teacher. But," She coughed. "I'll just come back tomorrow." Turning away she started to walk away but Taylor followed her out on the hallway.

"Kelsie, wait." Taylor said. Stopping and turning, Kelsie looked at her.

"Um…congratulations on the play," she told her.

Her face less red, Kelsie gave a small, but still embarrassed smile. "Thank you. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but like Miss Gossip said, I guess I'll just ask Sharpay for some pointers."

Laughing a little, awkwardly, Taylor said "Kelsie…about what you saw…"

Turning red again, Kelsie said, "I won't tell anyone, don't worry. Whatever happened between you and Chad is your business."

Giving a sigh of relief, Taylor said, "Thank you, I really appreciate that."

"No problem," Kelsie said. Then she turned away as walked down the hall. Taylor watched as Kelsie crashed into Jason Cross as he walked with Zeke and Troy as they turned the corner. Taylor didn't think that it was possible, but even from a distance, she could see Kelsie go even redder than she had when she walked in on her and Chad a few moments ago. It seemed the Jason went red too. Smiling slightly, she thought that there was another couple that would make Gossip World. She didn't doubt that it wouldn't, because like it was said earlier today, Miss Gossip knew everything that went on in East High.

Then remembering that Chad was still in the classroom, and his friends were most likely looking for him, she went back into the room before his friends noticed her. When she looked at Chad, he seemed to have had composed himself. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Kelsie promised not to say anything."

Sighing in relief, he told her, "Good. Thank God she wasn't someone else, like Sharpay." Nodding her head in agreement, Taylor prepared her self to say one of the hardest things in her life.

"That didn't happen." She said simply. Their gazes held as he spoke.

"I know," he said. "I don't know what came over me, but we can't say anything about his. Becky would kill me."

Taylor stopped breathing but was able to keep a straight face. She had forgotten about Chad's annoying girlfriend. She didn't know how. Becky the Bitch, she liked to call her, was practically attached by the hip with Chad. She wasn't in school today, that's why she wasn't with Chad right now. Even though Taylor knew it was wrong, she didn't feel one bit guilty about what happened with Chad. She should feel bad, but she just couldn't. Not when it was Becky anyway.

"Agreed." Taylor was able to make herself say. But she knew she would never forget it. No matter what she told Chad, she had dreamed that something like this would happen, well maybe not that, but for something happen between them. She couldn't take it back, and she wouldn't even if she could. Then, remembering the situation, she said, "The guys are just down the hall. And unless you want to explain why we're in the same room and not trying to kill each other, I suggest that you go meet them before they see that we're together."

Quickly agreeing, Chad made his way to the door. Stopping just outside, he turned around. "Taylor, I…" Taylor waited for him to say something, but he just shook his head, as if he couldn't figure out what to say. Then all he said was, "Bye." With that, he left and met his friends. Taylor could hear his feet as they got farther and farther away from the class room.

"Bye." She said softly.

She made sure that Chad and the other weren't in the hallway anymore before she gathered her things and left the school and drove off to go home.

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**so, did you like it? i would really apperciate it if you review and tell me what you think. who do you think miss gossip is? i should have the next chapter up 2morrow. i no it isnt the best, but just tell me what u think**

**kialajaray**

**p.s. i don't like stupid unrealistic fics and for them to talk like they're angels, well that just isn't real. **


	2. family, the mall, and getting ready

**thank u 2 everyone who read and reviewed my fic. i'm glad that everyone liked it. everyone is giving good guesses at who miss gossip could b. dont worry, bu the ed of the fic you'll find out. ok this is a long one. this is the longest that i've written. it took up 16 pages on microsoft word. but i dont like it much. not much is about her and chad. its mostly about her and her family so if u want to skip it u can. ok, on with the fic.**

Taylor pushed herself angrily away from her computer. She couldn't concentrate. That wasn't like her, no matter what was going on she was always able to concentrate on school work. She tried everything, but nothing worked. She knew why she couldn't stay focused on her work; what happened with Chad on Monday. She thought about it constantly even though she tried not to. Anytime she got a free moment, and sometimes even when she didn't, she remembered what they did and how she felt when they were doing it.

Getting up from the chair, she went to her stereo. Searching threw her c.d.s, she tried to find anything that she wanted to listen to. Finally, she picked an old album and put it in her stereo. Laying back in her bed to listen to it she thought about what all had occurred this week after what happened between her and Chad. Tuesday threw Thursday was the usual, hanging with Gabby, work, and school. Nothing was out of the ordinary until Friday's issue and Gossip World. Sighing, she took the latest issue of the column from her nightstand and re-read what the issue had said in her head.

_Oh EHS, how I love Christmas. All the snow, (even though we don't get any) presents, and television shows. It also means that we get out of school for a good three weeks. Not to mention the Christmas dance we have before we go off. Only two more weeks, and six more issues incase anyone is wondering, then it's freedom. But to get to the reason why anyone reads this, the gossip. It seems like it wasn't a fluke like I reported when Sharpay Evans was seen actually being nice and talking to Zeke Baylor. Please except my most humble apologizes. She was seen walking with him threw the halls for most of the week, even to go as far as having conversations with him. Maybe I was wrong when I said that she wouldn't make a good Penny Pingleton. She seems to have forgotten Troy Bolton, much to his happiness I'm sure. While we're on the subject of one of our favorite basketball players, he was seen on numerous occasions talking to Gabriella Montez. Obviously cliques only hanging with their own cliques is over. I wonder if love is in the air. Speaking of love, Jason Cross seems to be pre-occupied as of late. Is it because of a girl? Or maybe something else like school. If it is a girl, I can only wonder who it is. Don't worry EHS, if it is a girl, I'll tell you who. Chad Danforth was seen arguing with Becky Sterling. _Again. _I'm as clueless as anyone when it comes to why they stay together when they obviously don't get along, but it seems like he isn't arguing with Taylor McKessie. Thinking it was nothing more than the silent treatment, I failed to report how they have been walking past each other without bloodshed. But it has been a whole three days without so much as even a backhanded comment. With the utmost concern, I ask, are you two feeling well? I wouldn't know what to do in a world where those two didn't argue, and I believe that I would have to retire. On to news happier than those two…_

Putting down the paper, Taylor lay down again on her bed and covered her eyes with her arm. Miss Gossip didn't miss anything. What she wrote was true, after what happened on Monday, her and Chad hadn't even spoken one word to each other. She laughed a little when she remembered what happened Tuesday. She was walking with Gabby towards their lockers and she saw Chad and the others walking from the opposite direction. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before they looked away and walked past each other without a word. That had stopped Gabby, Troy, and the others in their tracks. Taylor and Chad had stopped and looked at their friends. "Is something wrong?" She had asked her.

Gabby has just stared at back and forward between them not saying anything. Taylor was sure she was trying to figure out what she had missed. Jason, doing the same thing, was able to voice his opinions on the matter. "What's wrong with the two of you? Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine. Let's go or we'll be late." Was all Chad had said to his friends. After they had walked away, Gabby had looked at Taylor with a probing stare.

"Did I miss something?" She asked suspiciously.

"Not that I know of." Taylor was able to say innocently enough.

Narrowing her eyes, Gabby said, "I've known you for almost a year Taylor, and in that year there hasn't been one occasion where you haven't argued with Chad. What's going on?"

Rolling her eyes, Taylor said, "So since I didn't pick a fight with Chad 'something is going on?'"

Making a sound of disbelief, Gabby said, "You might have been able to get away with that if it was only you not saying anything. But both of you didn't say anything to each other. Something happened between you two, I know it."

Shaking her head, Taylor had replied, "No it didn't, I swear. Maybe it's that we realized how childish and juvenile it is."

"Yeah sure Taylor." She could tell that Gabby was far from convinced.

Taylor felt bad about lying to Gabby. But she just couldn't tell her friend about what happened. It took her a long time to convince herself that it actually happened and her mind didn't play a cruel joke on her. And then there was the not so little fact that Chad had a girlfriend. Despite her earlier thoughts about not feeling bad about what happened, Taylor still did, even if it was Becky. She wasn't proud of the fact that she helped Chad cheat on her. She was a hypocrite, as much as she hated them she was one. She never understood why girls or guys went after someone when they knew that that person had someone. But just look at her, she was in the exact same position. She told herself that Chad had kissed her and not the other way around, and that it was a one time occurrence. Still, Taylor conceded to the fact that she had kissed him back and if something like that were to happen again, she wasn't able to say if she wouldn't give in or not.

Taylor thought about her moral dilemma until she heard her bedroom door open. Before she could look to see who it was, a body landed on top of her. "How's my favorite baby sister?" A voice asked her.

Pushing Tiffany off of her, Taylor sat up. "I'm your only baby sister." She said peevishly.

"All the more reason for you to be my favorite. If you weren't something would be wrong wouldn't it?"

Rolling her eyes, Taylor laughed. "I guess so. But to answer your question, I'm fine. I didn't think that you were coming until next week or the weekend."

"My teachers let me take my finals early. But the rest of them should be coming in the next few days." She watched her sister freeze as if just realizing something. "Oh my God. Is that Britney Spears?"

Taylor hadn't even been paying attention to the stereo playing. "Yeah, so?"

"Not even new Britney Spears, but old Britney Spears. One kiss from you? That's her second album." Her sister said with disgust.

Before Taylor could defend her music, Tiffany suddenly penned her with an intense gaze. "What's wrong?" She asked seriously.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked her.

"Don't give met that. You only listen to old pop when something's bothering you."

"That's not true." Taylor said defensively.

"Oh, it is too." Her sister shot back. "When Toby had to be rushed to the hospital, all you did was listen to every Backstreet Boys album you had constantly. You drove us all crazy."

Taylor remembered that. Tobias, or Toby he made everyone call him, her youngest older brother had to be rushed to the hospital to have emergency surgery to have his appendix taken out. Taylor was sick with worry and tried to listen to music to take her mind off of it. She didn't realize that it was the Backstreet Boys though. "That was just one time." She said defending herself.

Sighing, Tiffany said, "How about the first time you took your ACT? When it was time for you to get your scores back, all you did was listen to Jessica Simpson. Or when Mom-"

"Alright, you made your point. I listen to old pop music when I'm worried." Taylor told her sister.

"So what's wrong?" Tiffany asked her. I almost did it on the classroom floor with the boy I've been crazy about forever who happens to have a girlfriend. Not that she was going to tell that to her sister, or anyone else for that matter. So all she said was, "Nothing. I couldn't concentrate on my homework so I just put something in the stereo."

Giving her sister a knowing look, Tiffany grunted. "I don't believe you, just to let you know. But you won't tell me so I can't make you."

Not knowing what to say, Taylor changed the subject. "What did you get me for Christmas?"

Getting up, Tiffany said, "You know that I won't tell you."

Throwing her pillow at her sister, Taylor whined, "Why not? I'll tell you what I got you."

Throwing the pillow back at her, Tiffany said, "You better not or I won't forgive you. You know I like surprises."

Ignoring her sister's grumbling, Tiffany asked her about school. "Same as usual. I think that I'm getting senioritis though."

Laughing, her sister said, "Yeah, I remember that. I had it bad. What about Gossip World? Is Miss Gossip still going on strong?"

Making herself not glance at the latest issue Taylor said, "Stronger than ever. I wonder if it's more than one person writing that gossip column."

"Why do you say that?" Tiffany asked.

"How can she know everything all the time? It has to be more than one person."

"Maybe your right." Tiffany said shrugging her shoulders. "We'll never know. Have you talked to our brothers and sister lately?"

"Yes I have. Trevor and Trey said that they're coming sometime tomorrow, and so is Toby. And Timberly said that she'd come either Saturday or Sunday, she wasn't sure."

"I wonder if she ever forgave Mom and Dad for naming her that." Tiffany said off-handily.

"I doubt it." Taylor said. "But she's made them pay for it since she was born." It was known that the oldest McKessie daughter hated her name and when the Hey Arnold! shows started, she hated it even more. Toby wouldn't ever let her forget it either. For months he made everyone call him Gerald and he was determined to find a boy named Arnold so she could have a crush on him. Their parents always said that they suffered for naming her that because she was the worst of the six. Which was say a lot, since they never could keep a babysitter when they were younger for more than a week.

"Remember when we got banned from the movie theater?" Tiffany asked her laughing.

Joining in she said, "Yes. Mom was so mad. She never did figured out how I got into the popcorn machine when the workers weren't looking."

Laughing harder, her sister said, "Our excuse was that you kept asking for popcorn so you got some."

"I remember. The only reason that we didn't get into trouble was because none of us would tell who put me in there."

"I still say that you put yourself in there." Her sister told her.

Taylor made a sound of disgust. "I was four. How could I have put myself in there? It was Trevor and Trey who put me in there. They had you, Toby, and Timberly make a diversion, then the next thing I know, I'm a this big thing of popcorn I had been screaming for. What else would a four year old do but eat it?"

"What about the time that Trevor and Trey tried to convince Mom that she was mixing them up? It almost worked too." Tiffany said. Shaking her head, Taylor thought about her identical twin brothers. They were the oldest with Trey being older by two minutes. They were the worst after Timberly. She couldn't wait to see them again. After the laughter died down, Tiffany asked her, "How's Gabby?"

"She's fine. She's coming over on Sunday." Taylor said.

"Are you sure she's going to be able to handle all of us?" Her sister asked.

Smiling at her sister's joke she said, "I don't see why not. She has nerves of steel, even if any other normal person who go insane."

"If you say so." Her sister said as she moved back to Taylor's bed. Sighing as she got up to go to her computer, Taylor went to save her report when she heard her sister say, "You aren't _what_?"

Turning to her sister, Taylor saw that Tiffany was reading the Gossip World paper that she had left on her nightstand. Berating herself for not putting it away, she decided to play stupid. "I'm not what?"

"What happened between you and Chad that you aren't arguing?" Her sister asked her like she had just been caught stealing from her purse

"Nothing happened." Taylor told her. "I just don't feel like arguing with him anymore and he feels the same way. We are seniors in high school you know."

Tiffany gave her the exact same look that Gabby did. "That's bull and you know it."

Sighing, Taylor said, "Why doesn't anyone think that I can't go a day without arguing with that boy?"

"Maybe because you can't." Her sister told her pointedly.

"Yes, I can." She told her defensively. "I haven't argued with him in almost a week."

"All the more reason to know that something's up between you two. I know something is, so spill."

Rolling her eyes, Taylor said, "I can't 'spill' anything because there isn't anything to spill. We haven't argued because we don't feel like it. Well, I don't know about him, but that's why I'm not arguing with him. I have to hear about this enough at school, so can we drop it?"

"No we can't. I know how much you care about this boy. Now why I don't know-" She was cut off by Taylor's loud groan. "Do we have to have this conversation again? You've already told me-many times I might add-that you don't understand or see why I have the feelings that I do for him. I thought that we agreed to disagree."

"Alright, I'm sorry, but don't try to change the subject. I know you Taylor, so don't lie. What's going on between you and Chad?" Taylor could so the compassion and worry in her sister's face, she almost gave in and told her everything right there on the spot. But at the last moment she stopped, she couldn't tell her sister. Not that anyway. She didn't think that she could tell anyone.

"Nothing, Tiff." She lied. "I just haven't felt like arguing with the lunk head. That's all, I swear. I mean I think that it's past time for us to stop. We've been going at it for how long?"

"Forever." Her sister said dryly. "Speaking of fro-magnum, how is that going Helga?"

"Go to hell." Taylor said glaring at her sister. "Not now, or have I ever, or will ever have a shrine made of bubble-gum or his used personal items in my closet." Taylor hated when her sister called her Helga from Hey Arnold! She was nothing like that little girl who should have been put in either prison or a mental hospital. She vaguely thought that her family had a weird thing for that cartoon as she told her sister, "Other than us not arguing, nothing." Taylor was amazed at how easy it was to lie to her sister. "We've only recently stopped arguing. Before that it was insults abound."

"You know, you should probably just tell him that you're in love with him," her sister said.

Taylor froze. She shouldn't be surprised by what her sister said, but she still was all the same. They had just talked about that fact that Taylor more than liked Chad. She had never, and she went out of her way to stress never, told her that she loved Chad. She wasn't saying that she didn't. She thought that she did anyway. It was either be in love with him and be obsessive over him, so she picked the lesser of two evils. "Never have I told you that I loved Chad." She said evenly.

"You don't have to. And that doesn't mean that you don't." Her sister said simply. Taylor had nothing to say to that remark, so she didn't say anything. Sighing, her sister changed the subject. "Come on, I'm hungry. Let's go down stairs and eat."

--

"Your brothers and sisters seem really nice." Gabby said to her two days later as they walked threw the mall. Taylor had to pick up the last of the Christmas presents for her friends and Gabby wanted to do some last minute shopping.

"That's because you haven't lived with them for your whole life." She said as they walked out of the novelty shop where Taylor picked up the last of her gifts.

"Did you find something to wear for the dance on Friday?" Gabby asked her.

"Yeah. My sisters went shopping and I went with them yesterday and I found a dress. Did you?"

Sighing Gabby shook her head. "Not yet. I was going to look while we were here. I don't think that I'll find anything. I've looked everywhere. This is my last resort."

Laughing at her friend, Taylor said, "Don't worry. There's something here that you can wear, I'm sure of it. You're still coming to my house to get ready aren't you?"

Seeing her friend nod, she continued. "Timberly said that she would do our hair for us, but I'm not sure how long that's going to take so just come to my house when you get out of sch-" She stopped when she bumped into someone. Looking up to say sorry, her voice died in her throat when she looked in Chad's eyes. Stepping back from him, she was able to get out, "Sorry. I didn't see you."

"No problem." He told her back. Looking away from him before she did something embarrassing, Taylor saw Troy. "Hey Troy." She said. "What are you doing here?"

Holding up the bags in his hand, Troy said, "Shopping. I had to pick up a few more gifts for everyone. You?"

"The same." She said holding up her own bags. "Well, for me anyway. Gabby needs to find something for Friday."

Turning to her, Troy said, "I didn't know that you were going to the dance."

Gabby shrugged her shoulders. "I wasn't here yet for last year's, so I decided to go to this one." Taylor tuned them out as it became clear that they had forgotten that she and Chad were there. Looking at him, she saw him look at his friend, roll his eyes, and shake his head. Then he turned and caught her staring.

Trying not to blush, she said, "So…how's your weekend been?" She couldn't remember the last time that she had spoken nicely to him, and she had a feeling that she never had. And it wasn't made any easier by the fact that the last time she talked to him, she had her tongue in his mouth a few minutes before.

Chad seemed surprised, but he answered, "It's been fine. Other than this and basketball practice, I haven't done anything." Looking at his friend, Chad shook his head again. "He could at least try not to make it so obvious." He said dryly.

Smiling, she said, "My thoughts exactly." Giving her a smile that gave her the hugest wave of butterflies she ever felt, he asked her, "What about you?"

"Not much more. My family came down from college, but other than that, nothing."

"That's right. You have two sisters don't you?"

Nodding her head yes, she said, "And three brothers."

"There's six of you?" He said in disbelief.

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Since we're getting along for once, I'll ignore that. But yes there's six of us. My two twin older brothers, Trey and Trevor, are four years older than me. That's why you never met them I guess. Then there's Toby, whose three years older than me. Then Timberly and Tiffany who are two and one years older than me."

After that statement, there was an awkward moment of silence that Taylor didn't know how to fill, so she didn't. But it left her wishing that her friend would speed up the flirting with her crush. "So…" She heard Chad say in an obvious attempt to cover the silence, "Are you going to the dance?"

He asked her. Nodding her head yes, she said, "I might as well. I didn't go to Homecoming, so I'm going to this one. You?" Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "I go to all the dances. I don't really have a choice."

"Let me guess," She said sneering. "Becky is making you go to see and be seen."

Narrowing his eyes at her tone he replied, "Not that's its any of your business," He said coldly. "But Becky can't make me do anything that I don't want to."

Taylor knew that he had a point; it wasn't any of her business. Even though she knew that, she couldn't prevent herself from saying, "Spare me. Becky makes it a habit of telling everyone that she had you wrapped around her perfectly manicured finger."

Eyes flashing, he said, "Jealous, McKessie?"

Of course she was, not that she was going to admit it out loud.

"Of Becky the Bitch? Please. What is there to be jealous about Her Vapid-ness?" Folding his arms, he smirked at her. She vaguely thought that Troy and Gabby had to be in deep conversation not to sense them fighting.

Coming out of her thinking she heard him say, "When it comes to you, everything. She's prettier than you, more popular than you, she has more friends than you, and she's dating one of the most popular boys in school. You know you want to be her."

Making a sound of disgust, she said, "Get over yourself, or should I say her. She's prettier than me? I doubt that, but to each his own I guess. If she didn't wear twenty pounds of make-up on her face everyday, she'd probably look like Sloth from the Goonies. I'm glad that she's more popular than I am. Half the people who flock to her Majesty are either just as fake as she is, or as stupid. She has more friends than me? Unlike her, I have real friends and quality is more important to me than quantity. And as for dating one of the most popular guys in school," She looked him up and down with obvious disdain. "If I wanted you, I would have you, but I like boys with intelligence. And that's obviously not you."

It was Chad's turn to look her up and down. "Like I would ever want something like you. Flat as a board all around, no fashion sense, and it seems like you have a bad air day everyday. If I wanted you, I wouldn't just be lowering my standards, I'd be getting rid of them."

Taylor copied his exact movements from before, and folded her arms and smirked. "That sure didn't stop you from shoving your tongue halfway down my throat on Monday, now did it?" Taylor said it low enough where only Chad could hear her. She saw him freeze for a moment, then he looked her up and down once more and said in a voice as low as hers. "What was I supposed to do? Even if I did kiss you first, you threw yourself at me right afterwards." At her gasp he gave a little laugh.

"You know, if you give it for free, people are going to take it. I wonder how long it would have taken me to get you on the floor if Kelsie hadn't shown up. My guess is five more seconds. And I don't even want to think about afterwards. I wanted to scrub with bleach, but we ran out at my house. I had to make do with taking five showers to get the horrible smell off of me."

Taylor thought that Chad's insult was just the same as a slap to her in the face. She knew it was her fault, she had brought it up, but also she knew that that was one of the meanest things that he had ever said to her. Covering her hurt up she opened her mouth to blast him, but Troy and Gabby had finally realized that hostilities were being traded. Before she could say anything, Gabby grabbed her hand and said hurriedly, "Didn't you say that you wanted to try the outfit on for the dance?" Not giving Taylor a chance to answer, she quickly said, "See you guys in school." After she had pulled Taylor away, they stopped when they turned the corner. "What the hell was that about?" Gabby asked her.

Yanking her hand away, Taylor said, "Excuse me if I cut into your flirting time with Troy."

Her friend glared at her. "Look, just because you're pissed at Chad, it doesn't give you the right to bitch at me because of it."

Taylor's temper dissolved in an instant. Sighing deeply, she said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, its just that me and Chad got into a really heated argument."

"I could tell that much." Gabby said dryly. "Why though? You two seemed to be getting along just fine when we first saw them. Then all of a sudden, we see you looking like you're about to jump on him."

Sighing again, she said, "I know. It was my fault. We were getting along just fine, talking about our weekend and the dance. Then I said that Becky had him wrapped around her finger. He didn't like that, and I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

Shaking her head, all Gabby told her was, "Come on, I still have to find something to wear."

Walking with her friend, Taylor's earlier good mood disappeared. Why did she have to pick a fight with Chad on the one occasion, that most likely would be the only, that they were actually getting along? And she had to pick a fight about Becky. If Chad couldn't tell that she was jealous before, he had to now. Glumly she thought about the situation as she watched Gabby go threw the clothing racks of the store they had entered. It wasn't that she was jealous because of Chad that didn't make Taylor like her. She was truthful enough to know that she was jealous of her, but that wasn't why she didn't like her. She got along with Chad's ex-girlfriends. But Becky really was what she liked the call her: a bitch. She was the female embodiment of every negative stereotype about high school. Only caring about popularity, and things of that elk, she didn't care about who's back she stabbed, who she walked over, feelings she hurt, or what lies she told. Sharpay was a walk in the park compared to her. But Taylor had to concede the fact that she was smart about it. None of the boys in the school could tell her for what she really was. They saw as a sweet girl who had a jealous and mean streak, but they wrote it off as faults that everyone has. Any time she and Taylor got into it, they saw it as her taking up for her boyfriend. But thankfully, every girl was able to see threw her, even her friends. She just didn't understand why they continued to be around her.

"What about this one?" Gabby said pulling her out of her thoughts. Looking at the outfits that her friend held up, Taylor said, "The dress. I don't like the ruffles on the other one." Seeing her friend go back to the clothing, Taylor's mind replayed the argument. She never thought that Chad was what his reputation said he was. Taylor never let herself believe that he was as much of a player and womanizer as he was made out to be. If she really thought that then she would never have gotten feelings for him. But she couldn't deny the evidence; he had a girlfriend and she didn't seem to cross his mind once when they were kissing. And she had to take into account what he had said his self, if it was free, he was going to take it. That had Taylor wondering if he ever cheated on any of his girlfriends. Lord knew that girls threw themselves at Chad and his friends everyday.

Taylor stopped that line of thought. She already had to deal with hiding her feelings from Chad, to keeping what happened between them a secret, to praying that she wouldn't have to hide Kelsie's body if she ever thought about telling. She didn't want to add that, the boy was had been crazy about for as long as she could remember, wasn't the person that she thought he was at all to the list. Taylor knew that if what happened between them ever made that infamous gossip column, she wouldn't ever live it down

--

The week flew by for Taylor as she waited for the approaching dance. It wasn't really a surprise to anyone that she and Chad had resumed their arguing, and of course Miss Gossip had to mention it.

…In other news, it seems like Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie are back to arguing and everything is right in the world again. They were seen in the mall over the weekend with their friends Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez. It was said that they were even getting along for awhile. Now, to believe that or not is up to you, but I'm still skeptical about it. Even if they did get along, it wasn't for very long because Gabriella was seen jumping in between them and pulling the other girl away. It's also reported that Gabriella and Troy were seen in deep conversation for a undetermined amount of time, one can only guess what about…

As Taylor pulled into her driveway, she thought about the upcoming night. It was finally Friday, which meant the dance, not that it was the main attraction of the night. Everyone at EHS knew that everything would happen at the after party that night given by Ryan and Sharpay Evans. She got out of her car and waited for Gabby to catch up. She hoped that it wouldn't take forever for Timberly to do her hair, but knowing her sister like she did, Taylor figured that even if they started from the moment she woke up, they would still be late for the dance. Seeing her friend finally pull up, she walked to the car to meet her. "Are you ready to be pinched, poked, curled, and painted?" She asked her.

Laughing as they made their way to Taylor's house, Gabby said, "It won't be that bad. You don't have to wear any makeup if you don't want to, and we'll look great by the time we're done so stop complaining."

As they walked into the house, Taylor went to announce that she was home, but didn't have the chance because her sisters appeared in front of her, and grabbed her and her friend. "What are you-" She began, but was cut off as Timberly said, "Come on, we don't have much time if you want me to do you two's hair."

"Its only twelve o'clock, the dance doesn't start until seven." Gabby told her confusedly.

"I know we don't have much time." Tiffany answered her. "But Taylor refused to stay home, maybe then I might have enough time to finish. I might still be able to if I rush." Timberly said as she and Tiffany pushed them towards the stairs. "Have fun at the dance tonight sweetie." A voice from them sounded. Turning her head Taylor answered her mother. "I'll try. That is if I can still be able to move by the time your daughters are done with me."

Smiling at her daughters, Mrs. McKessie said, "I'm going to be leaving soon to go to the hospital. I won't be home until tomorrow morning, but your father should be here by the time you get back. Don't stay out to late. You have fun too Gabby."

Neither girl could answer the women because they were hauled unceremoniously up the stairs. She barely had a chance to say hello to her brothers before she and Gabby were pushed into her room. The next hours passed in a blur as Timberly and Tiffany obsessed over every little detail about Taylor and Gabby's appearance. The first time she got to think was when she walked out of her bathroom five hours later, shivering. Timberly had told her that she was not to take a bath with hot water, not even warm water. She had said that she wouldn't ever forgive them if they let their hair get ruined because they couldn't handle something as small as cold water. Taylor and Gabby saw it more as freezing cold water, but kept their mouths closed. As she walked back to her bedroom, her brother came around the corner and bumped into her. Before she could apologize, she heard him yell and jump back. "What's wrong with you?" She asked him.

"You look like Swamp Thing." Trevor told her.

Glaring at him, she said, "It's a sea weed facial mask. It's good for the skin." Taylor wasn't really sure about that last part, but that's what Tiffany had told her when she had approached her with it. It had taken a good ten minutes to finally convince Taylor to put it on.

"You still look like Swap Thing." He told her. Taylor got ready to say an insult back, but Trevor turned and went back around the corner yelling, "Toby, Trey, come quick! Timberly turned Taylor into a sea monster."

Glaring at where her brother just stood, Taylor continued to her room. After barely stepping over the threshold, Tiffany grabbed her. "Finally. Come on, we have to decide what makeup you're going to wear." She said.

"That should be easy." Taylor told her. "I'm not wearing any."

Turning away from Gabby, who was getting her own makeup applied, Timberly said, "What do you mean you're not wearing any? You have to. I won't feel like my job is complete if you don't."

Shaking her head firmly, Taylor said, "No. You know I hate wearing makeup and I usually rub or sweat it off within an hour. I'm not wearing any."

"Taylor please." Her sister begged. "You have too."

"No." Was all Taylor answered.

"At least meet me half way. Just some lip gloss and eye makeup. Is that fair?" Knowing that her sister wasn't going to stop until she gave in, Taylor folded. "Fine, but nothing else. And don't try to sneak it in either. I'll take it all off if you do."

"Deal. Now go wash that off your face so I can do it. We don't have much time left."

"We have plenty of time." Taylor said. "It's just five. It shouldn't take that long." She saw her sisters give each other a look that clearly said, 'She's hopeless.' Ignoring it, Taylor walked back to the bathroom to wash Swap Thing from her face.

Two and a half hours later, Taylor stood corrected. The dance had started thirty minutes ago, and her sisters had just finished with her and Gabby. She'd never know how it had taken all the time to put on makeup and put finishing touches on her hair. As she finished putting on her dress behind the screen in her room, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The moment of truth. Taylor or Gabby haven't been allowed to look into the mirror after Taylor had washed her face. When they asked why, her sisters said that they didn't want them to get pre-dance jitters. When they were asked to explain, they said that if they saw how they looked, they would criticize and nit-pick about the way that they looked. They even put a towel over the bathroom mirror.

She stepped from behind the screen at the same time Gabby stepped from behind the one they had taken from her sister's room. "You look gorgeous." They said at the same time. Taylor didn't know about her own appearance, but she didn't think that she looked as good as Gabby did. Gabby had finally decided to get a strapless black and white polka-dotted dress that stopped just below her knees and she was able to find a pair of high-heeled shoes that matched her dress perfectly. Timberly had put her hair into a French twist with a curl on each side of her face at the temples. Unlike Taylor, Gabby was convinced into putting on the makeup that Taylor had passed on. She knew that her friend would be the best looking one there.

"You both look gorgeous." Tiffany said. She held out her hand and Timberly slapped hers down on it, saying, "Job well accomplished." Sighing at the same time, they threw themselves down on Taylor's bed. Absently waving to them, Timberly said, "You two can go look in the mirror now. Walking to her door, Taylor was hard pressed not to run to the bathroom, and when she glanced at Gabby, she saw that the same was for her friend. When they got to the bathroom, Taylor jerked the towel away from the mirror and she and Gabby looked at their reflection. She was speechless. She didn't recognize the girl looking back at her. Taylor never thought she was ugly, but she didn't think that she could ever look this good either. Whatever the gunk that her sisters had her put on her face, she made her skin glow. The eye shadow and eye liner that shad had made her usually plain dark brown eyes look two shades lighter. As her gaze traveled down, she stepped back to see herself more fully. Her dress was a black hater-dress that had red embroidery that reminded Taylor of a bandana. The embroidery was around the neck and the bottom of the dress, which stopped an inch above her knees.

She looked back at her face. Timberly had given her spiral curls all over her head that looked elegant and full. She started to get a smile on her face. She looked great, and she knew that she would owe her sisters for the rest of her life. Looking at Gabby she said, "Is that really us?"

Laughing, her friend replied, "It has to be. No one else is in here but us." Taking a deep breath, Gabby said, "You ready?" Nodding her head, Taylor answered, "It's kind of chilly outside, and they always have the gym freezing so we should bring a sweater or something."

"You are not wearing a sweater over anything and ruin our hard work." Tiffany's voice came from the doorway, Timberly behind her. Rolling her eyes, Taylor said, "Calm down. We won't wear them for long we promise. If it's going to get a little cold, I want to be prepared." Giving her an intense look, Timberly finally nodded. "Fine, but if I find out that you wore a sweater over your dresses, I'll kill both of you."

"Yes ma'am." Gabby said jokingly as the four of them walked out to the hallway and made their way to the stairs.

Hearing his sisters and their friend come down the stairs, Trey looked up. "Hey Tay, do you still look like-" He voice died in his throat when he saw her. "Go change. Now." He said angrily.

"What? Why?" Taylor asked confused.

"There is no way in hell that I'm letting you out of the house looking like that." He said.

"And what's wrong with the way she looks?" Tiffany said defensively.

"What are you yelling about Trey? We could hear you from the kit-" Trevor said, then his voice broke off just like his twin's did. "You aren't wearing that." He said bluntly.

"Why not?" Taylor asked in the same tone that Tiffany had just used.

"What do you mean why not? It's too short for one thing, and for another you're about to fall out of the top of it." Trevor said

Looking down at her chest, Taylor said hotly, "I am not. Nothing is going to fall anywhere. And this dress isn't to short. I've seen the two of you with girlfriends who've worn shorter things."

"That's not the point. I'm not letting you out of the house dressed liked that." Trey yelled.

"It is too the point and you know it." Taylor yelled back. "You're being a hypocrite. If you don't want your sister to dress like this, then why would you want your girlfriends to dress like it?"

"Sisters and girlfriends are two totally different things. Any guy who sees you is going to be on you like white on rice. You aren't leaving the house unless you change." Trevor said to her.

"Why aren't you yelling at Gabby, huh? She looks just as good as I do." Taylor said.

"This isn't my fight." Gabby said holding up her hands. "Chicken." She heard Timberly whisper.

Giving a quick glance to Gabby, Trey said, "Gabby isn't my baby sister."

"Neither am I." Taylor told him hotly. "Younger, youngest, and little, but not your baby sister. I'm a senior in high school and this time next year, I'll be in college. You can't tell me what to wear." Grabbing Gabby's hand, she gave a quick thank you to her sisters, and went to the closet by the door, getting sweaters for her and Gabby.

"Toby," Trey said to their brother who had just walked out of the kitchen with a plate in his hand. "Do you see how your sister is about to leave the house? Back us up here."

Taylor rolled her eyes, and waited for Toby's overly protective remark. She was surprised when she heard him say, "You look great Taylor. You too Gabby. Have fun at the dance."

"What!" The twins yelled.

"You don't think that anything is wrong with what she's wearing?" Trey yelled to him.

Looking her up and down, Toby said, "I wouldn't have a problem if I saw anyone else dressed like that, so why blow a gasket over Taylor?"

"Because she's a baby sister?" Trevor said hotly.

"Like she pointed out earlier, she isn't a baby anymore." Toby said shrugging his shoulders. "But I'm not saying I agree with you about her wearing it though." He added at the end.

Giving all three of her brothers a glare, Taylor a walked with Gabby to the door, but Trevor stopped her. "If you leave, I'll…I'll tell dad." he folded his arms and gave her a superior look. Folding her arms and giving him a look of disdain, she said, "And I'll tell mom. She already saw my dress and didn't have a problem with it." She saw her brothers open their mouths but her sisters cut them off. "Why don't you leave her alone? She looks great and you know it."

Turning to his other two sisters, Trey said, "I can't believe you two would let her walk out of the house like that. You should be ashamed."

Folding her arms, just like Taylor had, Timberly said, "You pulled the same crap when I went to my senior prom, as a matter of fact I was almost late because of you."

"What did you expect?" Trevor said. "Your dress was an inch away from showing your ass crack."

"It was not!" Timberly shot back. "After mom finally told you to shut it, and that I was wearing what I want, you told my date that if he got to carried away, you'd kill him."

"It worked didn't it?" Trevor asked.

"Actually it didn't. We were the last couple in the limo that night. I have fond memories of that night."

"What!" Taylor heard all three of her brothers say to Timberly's comment, but the rest was lost as she closed the front door. She'd have to thank her later for giving her a chance to get away. "You know," She heard Gabby say. "I always wanted a older brother until now."

"Yes, well try having three overly protective ones and being the youngest. You can have them if you want." Shaking her head vigorously, Gabby replied, "After what I just saw, I'm kind of glad that I don't have any brothers."

* * *

**ok dont worry. the next chapter is much better. well i have to go to work. if u have ne other guesses to who it is, just tell me. i'll update the next chapter when i get home cuz this chapter is really a waste. i dont no y i wrote it honestly. and there might b errors cuz i wasnt going to re-rea it all again. **

**kialajaray**


	3. the party and the wager

**thank you everyone for reviewing. i'm glad that you all like it. this chapter is a lot better to me. well on with the story.**

"Welcome to our humble abode." Ryan said as Taylor and Gabby walked threw the doorway. "Can I take your coats for you?" He asked them. They stepped out of the way for him to greet the rest of his guests. It was the after party and Taylor saw twice as many people there than she had at the dance. Handing her sweater to Ryan, she made sure not to tell her sister that she had kept it on threw the whole dance.

Ryan turned back to them to get their coats and froze. "You two look gorgeous." He said, looking back between the two girls.

After getting slightly blushing thank yous, he told them, "Party's…everywhere. Food is too, try not to break or ruin anything. Have fun."

Saying goodbye to Ryan, the girls made their way to where the dance floor was. Silently, Taylor hoped that the Evans had insurance for everything in the house. By the looks of things, the party was going to get very rowdy. Glancing over the crowd she told Gabby, "Monday's issue is going to be thicker than an encyclopedia."

She saw Gabby nod her head absently as her eyes combed the crowd. Rolling her eyes, Taylor told her friend dryly, "He's over there in the corner."

"I know I just found hi-" Gabby stopped talking and started to blush deeply. "Who's in the corner Taylor?"

Taylor laughed as she said, "Let's just say that I believe you. Troy's over there."

"I don't care where Troy is. " Gabby said off handily.

Taylor gave her a look. "Sure you don't." Looking back, she said, "Sharpay is nowhere to be seen, why don't you go ask him to dance."

Before Gabby could answer, a voice from behind them said, "Don't worry Montez, I won't try to claw your eyes out."

Taylor saw Gabby suppress a groan before they turned around and said, "Hi Sharpay."

"Oh please." The other girl said. "You don't have to act like you're being tortured. But Taylor's right Gabby. Go ask him to dance. The way he keeps looking at the door for you to show up, he'll probably say yes even before you can ask the question."

Gabby gave her a look of disbelief. "Are we talking about the same Troy here?"

Sharpay made a sound of disgust. "Get real. When was the last time I actually went after Troy? Like four months ago?"

"Hah." Taylor said under her breath, but Sharpay still heard her.

Sighing she said, "Alright, maybe that was a stretch, but I don't want Troy, never really did. It was more a popularity thing than actually liking. You never needed my permission anyway. Besides, I've realized that I have a different type of boy." Taylor watched the girl's eyes as they got a far away look in them. She was positive that Sharpay's new type of boy had the last name Baylor.

"Sure, Penny Pingleton." She said under her breath again, but Sharpay heard her again.

"Whatever McKessie." She said. Looking them up and down, she said, "You two look great. Who did your hair?"

"My sisters." Taylor told her. "We were late to the dance because of it. It took hours for them to do our hair and make-up."

"Of course it did." Sharpay said in a matter of fact way. "I wasn't finished until a half hour ago, and I didn't even go to the dance."

Shaking her head, Gabby told the girl, "Well you look great too Sharpay." The girls made small talk for a few more minutes until something caught Sharpay's eye from behind them. Her eyes lit up, then giving a quick glance to Gabby, who wasn't paying attention, she got a small on her face.

Before Taylor could turn around, Sharpay opened her mouth and said, "Troy! Over here!" Taylor was amazed by the fact the Sharpay's voice was easily heard over the loud music. Out of the corner of her eye, Taylor saw Gabby freeze and looked ready to bolt. Sharpay must have seen it too, because she hooked her arm to Gabby's and firmly turned her around.

Following, Taylor saw Troy with Zeke and Jason. No Chad. Taking her mind off of that, she greeted the boys. "Hey guys. Having fun?" After getting a response from Jason and Zeke, she looked to Troy for his answer. He was staring so intently at Gabby she didn't even think that he had heard what she said, the poor boy could barely keep his mouth closed.

"You look…" He started. Taylor was about to offer an adjective when he said, "Beautiful."

Gabby turned bright red, but smiled at him. "Thank you," she said.

Taylor saw Sharpay roll her eyes then say, "Jason, didn't you say you were thirsty?"

Jason looked at her strangely. "No. I have a drink." He raised his arm to show a cup in his hand. Zeke, Taylor, and Sharpay all groaned at the boy's comment. The other two didn't seem to notice the conversation that was going on around them.

"Well I think that you should go get another cup." Sharpay said, annoyed with Jason. Jason still looked confused until he looked at Troy.

"Ooohhh. You know, I think that I am thirsty."

Hiding a smile, Taylor watched the two boys walk away, Taylor said to Sharpay, "I'm hungry, are you hungry?"

Grinning at her, Sharpay said, "Starving. There's food in the kitchen. Come on." They had almost made their get away when Gabriella noticed the lack of friends around her and Troy.

Turning to Taylor, she said, "Where are you going?" Taylor almost felt sorry for her friend, she was terrified, but she knew it was for Gabby's own good.

"Just to the kitchen," she said. Making their get away before Gabby could protest further, Taylor and Sharpay were able to contain their laughter until they made it to the kitchen.

"Do you think that she'll ever forgive us?" Sharpay said.

"I doubt it." Taylor said.

"Who won't forgive you?" Kelsie said from behind them. Turning around, Taylor saw that Kelsie and Martha were the only two occupants in the kitchen other than her and Sharpay.

"Gabby." She answered. "We left her alone with Troy."

"She'll either hate you," Martha started to say. "Or love you forever for it."

When the laughter died down, Sharpay said, "What are you two doing in here? The party's out there."

Martha opened her mouth to say something, but Kelsie cut her off. "She's avoiding someone," she said bluntly as Martha turned red.

Taking pity on her, Taylor said, "Don't say that too loud. Next thing we'll know, it'll be in the next edition of Gossip World. Everything else is."

Mentioning the notorious paper got Sharpay's attention, who had been staring intently at Martha ever since Kelsie's comment. "I know. She knows everything. I would have never known that Becky and Chad were having problems. They always seem to get along when I see them."

Taylor decided to keep quiet about Chad and his girlfriend. She listened as Martha said, "They just make it seem that way. I've seen them argue plenty of times. It's usually in the gym after school. I don't know what about though. The only time I see them get along is when they're arguing with Taylor. Why do you and Chad argue so much Taylor?" Martha said the last looking at her friend with curiosity.

Taylor didn't like where this conversation was going. "We just do." She said shrugging her shoulders. "We never have gotten along. Just like vinegar and water. We just don't mix."

"Come on," Martha said. "There has to be something that you like about him. You two got along for awhile a few weeks ago."

"We didn't talk." Taylor corrected, ignoring how Kelsie looked at everything but her. "We didn't speak to each other. That's the only reason we got along. And no, there isn't anything I like about him." It always amazed her how easily she could lie when it came to Chad. Continuing, she said, "He's arrogant, pig-headed, annoying, and-"

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Sharpay cut her off by quoting Hamlet.

Glaring at her, Taylor said, "Please, Miss Shakespeare. The day that I feel anything other than dislike towards Chad, is the day that Miss Gossip will stop writing." Ignoring Sharpay's sound of disbelief, she asked her, "Where's your bathroom?"

"Use the one upstairs." Sharpay told her. Pointing to the kitchen stairs, she said, "Go up the stairs, take a right, and it's the third door on the left." After thanking her, Taylor walked up the stairs.

--

Stepping out of the bathroom, Taylor bumped into a body in the dark hallway. The apology got stuck in her throat when she realized that it was Chad. "Oh. It's you. Excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

Walking past him, she stopped when she heard him say, "If it isn't the Nerd Queen. Was it hard for you to pry your self away from your books for this long?"

"Eat shit Chad." She said. She walked about two feet when she stumbled over something on the floor.

"What's wrong?" Chad asked as he turned on the light switch. "You can't-" His comment died in his throat when Taylor turned to face him. Taylor watched as his eyes traveled from her face, down to her legs, and up again stopping before getting to the top of her.

"My face is a little higher." She told him, sounding annoyed, but on the inside she was ecstatic. Obviously she wasn't as flat as he thought she was. If she was right, which she knew she was, Chad looked like he wanted to jump on her. He didn't seem to be thinking about his insults a few weeks ago now. But his next comment brought her euphoria to an end.

"What the hell are you wearing?" He asked her angrily.

Holding her head high, she told him, "A dress. You've seen one before haven't you?"

"You said you have three older brothers right?"

Confused by the change of topic, she said, "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"There's not a snow ball's chance in hell that I'd let my sister go out dressed the way you are." He said as he took off his jacket.

A little hurt, she said, "What wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"What isn't wrong with it," he asked her, thrusting his jacket towards her. "Put this on."

"No," she said hotly. "I'm not. Nothing is wrong with what I'm wearing. Just because you don't like what I'm wearing, doesn't mean that I'm going to cover myself up."

"You're about to fall out of the top of your dress. Put the jacket on."

Folding her arms, and pushing her chest up, just to annoy him, Taylor said, "My brothers told me the same thing."

Before she could finish he said, "Your brothers are smart then. What the hell were you thinking leaving your house like that."

"What I was thinking," she said, pushing his hands out from in front of her. "Was that I look nice. And I'll tell you just like I told my brothers. You aren't my father, you're not one of my brothers either. So that gives you even less right to tell me what I should or shouldn't wear. I think I look great, other people think I do too, so-"

"Who thinks you look great?" He asked her suspiciously.

"What?" She asked him confused again.

"I said, who thinks you look great?" He ground out.

Taylor couldn't figure out why it mattered, but answered him anyway. "My sisters, Gabby, Sharpay, Ryan, Mar-"

He cut her off again. "Ryan said that you look great?" He sounded doubtful.

Fed up, she said, "I'm not going to stand here and be insulted by someone who I can't stand when there's a perfectly good party going on down stairs." Turning away, she walked down the hall to the stairs.

Chad stopped her by grabbing her arm and turning her around in front of the door before the stairs. "Was Ryan hitting on you," he asked her angrily.

Taylor was stunned speechless by the comment. "Excuse me," She said.

"I said, was-" This time Taylor cut him off.

"Of course he wasn't hitting on me. Why should you care anyway? I'm just a flat as a board know it all, remember? Why should you care if someone was hitting on me or not?"

Before he could answer, they heard voices coming up the stairs. Before Taylor realized what he was doing, Chad had opened the door in front of them and dragged her in.

"What the hell are you doing," she asked him trying to moved past him to the door.

Blocking her exit, he said, "We're not done with this conversation, and I don't want to have to explain why we're alone with each other."

"Well if you would have let me leave when I started to, you wouldn't have to worry about this now would you," she asked him angrily.

Giving up trying to get past him, she stepped back and folded her arms in front of her. "What is so important that you have to hold me prisoner in here to talk about?"

Tossing her his jacket, he said, "I'm not holding on prisoner."

Looking at the jacket in her hand, Taylor threw it on the floor. "I'm not wearing that. Nothing is wrong with what I'm wearing. And if you aren't holding me prisoner, then let me leave."

"Taylor, you might as well be wearing nothing at all. Every guy here is going to be staring at you, and not in a good way."

Taylor was angry before, but now she was furious. She had seen his own girlfriend, in a shorter, tighter dress. What right did he have to tell her that something was wrong with her dress. She may be in love with him, but there was no way in hell she was going to let him insult her like that.

"Why in the hell do you care anyway," she yelled angrily. "The only time you ever gave two shits about what I wear is when you insult me about it. But now since I'm not dressed as dowdy as you're used to, I look like a slut."

"I never said that you looked like a slut," he started, but she cut him off.

"Do you want to know what your problem is," she asked.

Folding his arms, he leaned against the door. "I'm sure you're about to enlighten me."

"You hate the fact that you think I look good," she told him.

Chad immediately straightened. "I don't know what you're talking about McKessie," he said hotly.

"Yes, you do," she shot back. "I saw the way you looked at me. You're so determined to get me all covered up because you don't want anyone to see you react to how I look."

"Give me a break Taylor," he said, laughing meanly. "Do you really think that I would really be worried about thinking you're hot?"

Before she could control her actions, she had jerked off her bracelet and threw it at his head. He ducked right before it connected with it. The bracelet bounced off the door and rolled to a stop on the floor by a bed she hadn't noticed before.

"What the hell is wrong with you," he yelled.

"You know good and damn well what's wrong. If you don't care about how I look so much, then why in the world are you so concerned about what I'm wearing?" Before he could answer, she charged on. "And if I'm so unappealing to you, what happened a few weeks ago would have never happened, now would it?"

Walking up to him, she said, "I'm leaving, so either you'll move, or I'll move you."

He smirked. "I would love to see that," he said.

Making a loud sound of frustration, she turned toward him and shoved him hard. It was obvious that he underestimated her strength. He had to catch himself from falling after he stumbled a few feet away from her. "Do you really think that with three older brothers, I can't defend myself," she shot at him as she turned to open the door.

She had gotten the door open a few inches when his hand came from behind her a shut the door. Turning around to yell at him again, her voice died in her throat when she realized that his face was inches away from hers. To Taylor, it seemed like they stared at each other forever. Finally, she said, "I think it's time to go…the others will be looking for us soon."

"You're right." He said. Neither one of them moved an inch. Taylor knew that she should leave, given their recent history of being alone together, she should be heading for the hills. Especially since they were alone together in a room with a bed. She opened her mouth to say that they should leave again, but before she could say anything, his mouth crushed against hers.

Taylor stood frozen in shock, until she felt his tongue touch hers. She promptly forgot about leaving and kissed him back. Opening her mouth wider, she wrapped her arms around his neck and thrust her tongue against his. Chad's reaction was automatic. His arms circled her waist and he pressed her impossibly close to him.

It was unclear to Taylor how long they had been standing there kissing, but suddenly she became aware that his hands were no longer around her waist. They were everywhere. She gave a shuddering breath when his mouth left hers and kissed where his hands had just been. Kissing down her jaw, he stopped when he reached the hollow of her throat.

She couldn't stop the loud groan that came from her throat when he licked the pulse point in her neck. Clutching his head to her, she arched into him when she felt run his hands up her thighs. The next thing she knew, she was laying in the bed she had spotted earlier with Chad laying on top of her.

Before she could object to their new position, he took her mouth again in a breath stealing kiss. Planting himself in between her legs, Chad ran his hand up her thigh, pushing her dress up as he went. Moaning she ran her fingers threw his hair and-

There was a muffled laugh from the other side of the door.

Taylor froze. What was she doing? This was wrong and she knew it. What she and Chad were doing had to stop. Now.

Pushing his shoulders, Taylor tried to sit up. "Chad, we have to stop. We can't do this"

"Why the hell not?" He asked, Taylor could tell that he was trying to catch his breath, just like she was.

Rising to where he had to get off her, she said, "Maybe because everything about this is wrong."

"It sure as hell didn't feel wrong," he said angrily.

"This is Sharpay's and Ryan's house," she tried to reason.

"So," he shot back.

"So," she repeated. He had to be one of the dumbest people she knew. "They're our friends, and I can't…" She stalled trying to think of a word to describe what just happened. "Do what we were doing just now in their house. That's wrong."

"It's been done before," he told her bluntly.

"Well not by me," she said, her temper rising. "And I don't plan on becoming one of those people who…do that while all their friends are downstairs."

He still didn't look convinced. After rubbing her temples she said, "Do you know who else is down there?"

Chad didn't seem like he cared. "Who," he asked.

"Becky. You remember her don't you? Your girlfriend? No matter how much I may hate the bitch, I'll be damned if I'm the one to help her boyfriend cheat on her."

Taylor could tell by the way Chad's face changed that he hadn't thought of Becky once. She knew it was wrong, but she felt a glimmer of satisfaction in the fact that she made him forget about his girlfriend.

Going back to the issue at hand, she said to him, "I didn't see you and you didn't see me. I'll go down stairs, and after a few minutes you go too. I'll go down the front and you go down the back. If anyone asks what took you so long, just say that you got lost. I'll say that I was fixing my hair and makeup."

Not giving him a chance to answer, Taylor turned and walked out of the room. Making sure no one was around, she quickly ducked into the bathroom to fix her appearance. After making sure that there were no signs of what she and Chad had just done, she went down the stairs. Gabby quickly found her.

"Where have you been?" Gabby asked her excitedly. "I've been looking for you forever."

"I was in the bathroom upstairs, and you know how big this house is." Taylor was able to lie easily.

"Well, you almost missed it." Gabby told her, barely able to stand still.

"Missed what?"

"Sharpay is making an announcement about Miss Gossip. Do you think that she'll admit that she's her?" Gabby said in a rush.

"I doubt it. Didn't we already talk about why it wouldn't be her?" Taylor asked her calmly.

Shrugging her shoulders, Gabby grabbed Taylor's hand. "Come on."

Gabby led Taylor to where the dance floor had been. She saw Sharpay on the DJ platform. Pushing their way to the front, Taylor and Gabby waited for Sharpay to make her announcement.

"Excuse me everyone!" Sharpay said to get everyone's attention. "I know that you all heard that I wanted to make an announcement about Miss Gossip. But before anyone asks, no I'm not going to say that I'm her." There were a few groans from the crowd.

"Anyway," She continued. "As you all know, the Evans only have and give the best. So I want to make a competition for you all that involves Miss Gossip." Everyone waited in silence for Sharpay to finish.

"I'm sure everyone in here at one time or another had something said about them in Gossip World that they didn't want known." There were a few grumbled agreements from the crowd. "With that said," Sharpay's face radiated excitement as she spoke. "Ryan, and myself are offering one thousand dollars to whoever unmasks Miss Gossip!"

* * *

**ok well who do u think is going to unmask miss gossip? plz read and review. thank you so much**

**kialajaray**


	4. confrontations

**ok sorrie i ment 2 do this earlier now its 4 minutes til midnight and i'm trying to hurry up and do this be midnight. so no note this time, on with the story. **

_Oh EHS, so much gossip and so little time. Of course the Evans party caused a stir. And in more ways than one. Before I get to the gossip that everyone is dying to hear about, the most interesting information I found out was, Miss Sharpay Evans had put a bounty on my head. It seems that whoever can unmask me will get one thousand dollars. All I can say to that is, you can try EHS, you can try._

Taylor stopped reading the gossip column in her hand. She had enough time later to read the gozssip that had happened over the weekend. At a glance, she saw that the column didn't include what happened between her and Chad. And thankfully, no one had remarked that they both had gone missing around the same time. Their secret was safe.

Gabby hadn't noticed anything out of the normal with her because of Sharpay's announcement. She was sure that if Gabby hadn't been so preoccupied with the wager, she would have noticed something was wrong. Gabby wasn't the only one buzzing with excitement about Miss Gossip. Taylor was pretty sure that by Saturday morning, everyone knew about the wager. She had even seen some teachers talking about it.

Taylor couldn't muster enough excitement about it because she was terrified someone would figure out what happened between her and Chad. She felt horrible about it. How could she forget that Chad had a girlfriend? Even though it seemed like every time he kissed her, she forgot about everything, Taylor knew that she couldn't make excuses about what happened.

Turning to Gabby, she opened her mouth to ask her if she was ready to leave, when she saw Sharpay walking towards her holding a shopping bag on her arm. Taylor noticed that she had a peculiar look on her face. "Hi Gabby, hi Taylor."

"Is something wrong Sharpay?" Gabby asked the girl.

Shaking her head, Sharpay said, "Can I borrow Taylor for second?" Before either girl could answer, Sharpay grabbed Taylor's hand and dragged her to the closest empty classroom.

When they got there, Sharpay closed the door and faced Taylor. When she didn't say anything, Taylor repeated their friend's question. "Is something wrong?"

Sharpay seemed to ignore the question. Looking down, she played with the handle of the shopping bag she was holding. "Did you know that Chad and Becky broke up this weekend? At my party?" She asked Taylor, still looking down at the bag.

Taylor willed herself not to outwardly react. She had heard and wasn't surprised. From what Gossip World was saying, they were at each others throats all the time. She wanted to jump for joy honestly, but was able to contain herself. And she had silently prayed it wasn't because of her. She couldn't figure out why Sharpay was telling her this though.

"That's nice to know." She told her calmly. "But why are you telling me this?"

"They broke up because he called her by another girl's name." Sharpay said, still not looking up.

"Well that would do it. Too bad for her." Taylor said simply. She seemed calm, but on the inside she was starting to get nervous. Did Sharpay know something?

"I over heard them when they broke up. Do you want to know who her called her?" Finally, Sharpay looked up when she said that.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me." Taylor was able to say with a bored look.

"He called her Taylor. And whatever the other problems they had, that seemed to be the breaking point. So she dumped him." The intense way Sharpay was staring at her, made Taylor nervous.

"Well, I'm sure it was just an honest mistake."

Giving her a look of disbelief, Sharpay said, "Is there something going on between you and Chad?"

Taylor had to fight her sigh of relief. Sharpay didn't know about what almost happened in her house. She was just going off what she heard. "No, of course not," She started but Sharpay cut her off.

"You left this at my house." She said, digging in the shopping bag and tossing her something. Looking down at her hand, Taylor realized that it was her bracelet. She hadn't even noticed that she didn't have it.

Before she could thank her, Sharpay continued. "I found it in a guest room. You know what else I found in the same guest room?" After she said that, she pulled out a jacket from the shopping bag. Taylor recognized it immediately. It was the one Chad had tried to make her put on.

She felt the blood drain from her face. She had completely forgotten about Chad's jacket, and she only just remembered throwing her bracelet at him. But somehow, Sharpay had found both of those things, and now she knew that something had went on between them. What was she going to do now?

"I can tell by the look on your face that you know its for Chad. There's no use in trying to lie about it." Sharpay said.

Taylor just watched her silently as she put the jacket back in the bag and sat it on a desk. "Did you two…" Sharpay's voice trailed off.

"No!" Taylor yelled immediately. Seeing Sharpay give her a look that meant she obviously didn't believe her, she rushed forward. "We almost did. But then I realized where we were and how wrong it would be to do that in a friend's house."

"Well, I appreciate that." Sharpay said. "And how long had this been going on?"

"Nothing is going on. I swear. We bumped into each other in the hallway and started arguing about what I was wearing-"

"Why were you arguing about what you were wearing?" Sharpay asked, confused.

"Because the idiot said that that I shouldn't have left the house in what I was wearing." That seemed to mean something to Sharpay, but Taylor just let it go as she continued. "He pushed me into a room when we heard people coming. Then we argued some more and…" Her voice trailed off.

"You two ended up on the bed." Sharpay supplied happily.

Taylor looked at her warily. "You aren't going to say anything about this are you?"

Sharpay looked offended. "Of course not! I may be a bitch, but I'm not cruel. As far as I'm concerned, what you and Chad do is your own business, but I can't say that I agree with what you did because he was with Becky. Even if I can't stand the tramp."

Sighing, Taylor sat down in a desk. "I know. That's another reason why I stopped. I can't stand her either, but I couldn't do that to her." She put her head in her hands trying to figure out what to do.

"So what now?" Sharpay voiced Taylor's thoughts.

"I don't know." She said, lifting her head up. "Ignore each other I guess."

"Like you did last time?" Damn Sharpay was smart.

Reading the expression on Taylor's face, Sharpay laughed. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that something happened between you two, knowing what I know. So," She said, sitting down to face Taylor, looking eager. "Spill."

"You have to promise not to say anything. Not even Gabby knows."

Putting her hand over hear heart, Sharpay said, "Promise."

"…After ignoring each other for a few weeks," she said ending her story, "We saw each other in the mall and started arguing again." She waited for Sharpay to tell her how wrong she was and to look at her differently.

She was surprised when Sharpay said, "I can't believe Kelsie knew. And she didn't say anything."

That threw Taylor. "Wait, so after I tell you that I damn near had sex with a boy, don't forget in your house, who I haven't ever gotten along with, and who had a girlfriend at the time, I might add, all you can say is 'I can't believe Kelsie never told me?'"

Getting up, Sharpay laughed. "What do you want me to do? Call you a whore and say I don't want to be your friend anymore? It's me we're talking about. Remember when I was put in Gossip World because I tried to get a guy who already had a girlfriend? I'm not a hypocrite you know."

Gathering her things, she walked to the door and waited for Taylor to follow her. Opening the door, Sharpay said, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Not even Ryan knows." Looking behind her, she said, "This should be interesting."

Turning around, Taylor saw Gabby with Troy, Zeke, Jason and Chad. What the hell was she going to do now?

"There you guys are," Gabby said to the two girls. "One minute I'm talking to you and the next Sharpay hauls you into a classroom."

"It was nothing," Taylor lied. "She was just giving me my bracelet I left in her kitchen." She held up the bracelet as proof.

"That reminds me." Sharpay said opening her bag. "Here Chad, you left this in the…bathroom." She handed him his jacket. Taylor could tell that he caught on to the pause Sharpay had when she said where she found his jacket. He looked at Taylor, but she quickly looked away when their eyes met.

"Thanks," he said to Sharpay. "I didn't realize that I didn't have it until I got home."

"No problem," she told him. "Sorry to hear about you and Becky."

"Not your no," he said laughing. "You hated just like everyone else." When Sharpay didn't try to deny it, he continued. "It's over and I'm not really sorry about it."

"Why did you guys break up anyway?" Gabby asked.

It was apparent to Taylor that he hadn't told his friends why they broke up by the way they looked expectantly at him. Shrugging, he said, "It just wasn't working."

Taylor had to leave. Eventually, they would realize that she and Chad weren't at each others throats, and she didn't want to have to argue back with him, not now. "Hey you guys, I have to go talk to Mr. Matsui before class starts, I'll see you later."

She rolled her eyes when she turned around as she heard Troy ask Gabby if he could walk her to her class. Why they didn't just date already was beyond her. Sharpay took a more direct approach. "Zeke," Taylor heard her say as she walked away. "Walk me to my class please."

Taylor didn't know where to go. She didn't have to talk to the principal like she said, so now she had to find something to do for the next fifteen minutes before first period started. She was thinking that she should really stop lying when a voice from behind her said, "Well look at Taylor. Not dressed like a slut today?"

She should have known this was going to happen. Chad had called Becky her name, of course Becky was going to be pissed. Taylor was sure that the only reason why what caused her breakup with Chad wasn't all over school was because he called Becky Taylor.

Turning around, Taylor said, "Hello Becky. No, I'm not dressed like a slut today. I never dress like a slut."

Becky faced her with two of her lackeys on each side, whose names escaped Taylor at the moment. They were all staring at her with sneers on their faces. Taylor would always wonder what Chad had seen in her.

"Really," Becky asked. "I could have sworn that you and your friend Gabby were the most sluttish girls at the party."

Taylor's patience was starting to wear thin. She would have been able to deal with whatever comment Becky had for her, but she wasn't going to let her talk about Gabby like that. Looking Becky up and down with contempt, she said, "You're one to talk aren't you Becky? Is the skank convention in town? Oh," she said putting her hand in front of her mouth. "I'm sorry I forgot. You never close your legs and get off your back long enough to know."

She watched Becky's face go red as she said, "You bitch!" Before Taylor realized what was about to happen, Becky jumped at her, grabbing her hair and pulling. Her reaction was instant. Ignoring the stinging pain that Becky was causing by pulling her hair, she dropped her books and balled her hand into a fist and punched Becky right in the face.

Becky let her hair go as she jerked away from Taylor. Before Taylor could land another hit, Becky punched her in the jaw. Taylor barely noticed the pain as she jumped on Becky, bringing them both down. Taylor ended up on top of Becky, slapping her across the face, while Becky tried to push her off and pull her hair at the same time.

Becky was able to roll, pinning Taylor under her. She started to choke Taylor when she, who had been fighting her brothers for years, brought her knees up and hit Becky in the back. Taylor was able to roll them again when Becky was taken by surprise. On top again, Taylor shoved both her hands into Becky's hair and started slamming her head against the floor. She didn't even hear when someone yelled "Taylor, stop!" from behind her.

She was still slamming Becky's head against the floor when she felt two pairs of hands grab both her arms. Not letting go of Becky's hair, Taylor felt it in both her hands when whoever had her was finally able to get her off Becky. It was Chad and Ryan.

Taylor was still too mad to care. She tried to jerk out of their grasp, but they just tightened their grip on her. "Let me go Ryan," she yelled. "Get off of me Chad! I'm not going to hurt her, I'm just going to beat her ass."

"Taylor, calm down!" She heard Gabby yell from behind her. Taylor froze. When had they gotten there? They should have been on the other side of the school. Just then, Taylor realized what just happened. She was going to get suspended and how in the hell was she going to explain that to her parents?

"I'm fine." She told Chad and Ryan. They didn't look like they believed her. "I'm not going to jump on her I swear." They let her hands go, but watched her closely. Looking at Becky, she saw that Troy and Jason had helped her off the ground. Then she remembered that she had two clumps of Becky's hair in her hands. "Here bitch," she said throwing the hair at Becky. "You can have your hair back."

"Troy, Jase," she heard Chad say. "Take Becky to the bathroom or something, we're going to take Taylor to the auditorium."

"Why?" She asked him.

Her looked at her like she had lost her mind. "Do you want Mr. Matsui to suspend both of you?"

She saw Jason and Troy, Zeke with them, take Becky off in the opposite direction of them. Turning around, she saw that all of her friends had been behind her.

"Come on," Sharpay said. "We have to get her to the auditorium before any teacher notices and make her look presentable."

Chad grabbed her arm, but she jerked it away. "I know where it is." She told him, giving him a glare. This was all his fault. If he hadn't acted like he hated her one minute, and couldn't stop kissing her the next, then this wouldn't of happened. They would have never ended up in that bed at Sharpay and Ryan's house and he would have never called Becky her name, Becky wouldn't have ever insulted, she wouldn't have insulted her back, and they would have never fought.

Calming down, Taylor realized what she was thinking. It was just as much her fault as it was Chad's. Becky had every right to insult her. But, Taylor amended, that didn't mean she had the right to hit her. Since she did, Taylor had every right to defend herself. Now, she thought as she was pushed into the auditorium, she had to worry about if the teachers and principal would find out who was fighting. It always amazed her that adults weren't ever around when they should be. She didn't think that any of the students would say who was fighting, but still prayed that the principal wouldn't find out.

Chad pushed her to one of the seats. "Sit." he said.

"I'm not a dog." She told him.

He ignored her as Sharpay sat down next to her and handed her a brush. "Thanks." She told her as she brushed her hair into a pony tail.

"Your welcome," Sharpay told her. "I can't do anything if you get any bruises. I don't have your shade of make-up."

"Don't worry about it," she said giving her back her hair brush. "I don't bruise easily at all. How did all of you find out I was fighting Becky?"

"Me and Ryan saw Becky jump on you," Martha said. "We found Kelsie and told her to go find Gabby and tell her what was happening."

"By the time I got back with the others," Kelsie said. "You two were rolling on the ground."

Gabby turned to Ryan, eyes flaming with anger. "Why didn't you stop them when you first saw them fighting?"

"Are you crazy?" Ryan asked her. "I've seen what happens when someone is stupid enough to try and stop two girls from fighting. If I had, I'd look like Becky right now."

Chad, who hadn't said anything since he told her to sit, said, "What happened that was so bad that you almost killed her?"

She glared at him. "Your girlfriend was the one started it."

"Ex-girlfriend," he said. "What happened?"

"She insulted me, I insulted her, she didn't like it, she grabbed my hair, and we started fighting. That's about it."

He opened his mouth to say more, but the bell rang. After they got up to leave, Ryan said, "Let's just hope that no finds out that it was you fighting, and that we aided and abided."

"I never knew that you were into law Ryan." Gabby said.

"Please," Sharpay said, rolling her eyes. "He just watches too much Law and Order."

--

Taylor sighed as she walked through the empty school parking lot to her car. Thankfully no one found out about the fight between her and Becky. None of the teachers that is. After leaving the auditorium, she went threw school trying to act as normal as possible. The teachers didn't notice either her or Becky's disheveled appearance.

Taylor spent the whole day avoiding Chad. Not that he was looking for her of course. But anytime she saw him, she would go in the other direction. What could she possibly say to him? She still had the urge to blame him for the fight, even though she knew if it was his fault, then it would be just as much as hers.

No one knew, with the exception of Sharpay, the real reason that she and Becky fought. Becky didn't either, she realized. All Becky knew was that Chad was at least thinking about Taylor. She didn't know all the details. All hell would break loose if she ever did. So all Taylor had to do was avoid Chad and hope that Becky would move on to her next victim quickly.

Reaching her car, she opened the door and started to get inside when a hand touched her shoulder. She gave a small scream as she balled up her fist and prepared to hit her assailant. She turned, but before she could strike, a hand reached out and grabbed her fist.

"Don't you think that you've had enough fighting for one day?" Chad asked her.

Taylor gave a sigh of relief , at least it wasn't someone trying to kill her. Then she realized who it was and wished that it had been. "Sorry," she said. "Don't sneak up on me."

Letting go of her hand, Chad said, "I saw the way you were hitting Becky. Trust me, I would never want to be on the receiving end of your fist."

"Flattery will get you no where Danforth."

"It won't," he asked in mock dismay. "Damn, it works on all the other girls."

She glared at him. "I'm not like all the other girls."

"So I'm learning," was all he said, leaving Taylor to contemplate what he meant. There was a stretch of awkward silence that Taylor couldn't handle.

Breaking the silence she said, "What do you want Chad? You don't have to pretend to be nice to me. We've spoken less than one hundred civil words to each other since middle school, you don't have to act like everything's changed now."

Chad looked at her like he thought she had gone mad. "Everything has changed Taylor, and you know it."

She shook her head, trying to avoid where she knew it was going. "No it hasn't. I'm still the stuck up nerd that you don't like, and you're still the arrogant jock that I don't like."

"Give me a break Taylor," Chad said. "Everything's changed and you know it. Almost having sex with someone twice changes things."

"It was not twice!" she said defensively.

Folding his arms, he gave her an arch look. "Really? Then how many times was it?"

She gave him another glare. "Just once. Someone must have put something in the punch we were drinking and it made us a little crazy."

"Yeah sure, whatever you say," he said under his breath but Taylor heard him. "And what about that time in the classroom? You're telling me that if Kelsie wouldn't have walked in on us, nothing would have happened either?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you," she said. "Do you really think that I would have had sex with you on a classroom floor?"

"If someone would have told me a month ago that I would cheat on my girlfriend not once, but twice with you, I would have told them they were crazy. But I did, so all bets are off about anything."

Giving up, Taylor went back to the original topic of the conversation. "What do you want?" She asked again.

"We need to talk Taylor. What had you and Becky fighting?"

It was Taylor's turn to look as if he had lost his mind. "Hmmm…I don't know," she started sarcastically. "Maybe the fact that you called your girlfriend my name, who by the way you're supposed to hate. What in the hell would make you call your girlfriend my name?"

"Well excuse me if I had a lot to think about with something that had to deal with you. You know you aren't the only one who has some decency. I did feel bad about doing what I did to Becky."

That stopped Taylor. She hadn't bother to think about what Chad was feeling about this whole situation. It never occurred to her that maybe he did have the same guilt that she did. Sighing, she closed her car door and leaned against it. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to make it seem like I was the only one having to deal with this." She looked at him side ways. "She doesn't know everything does she?"

"Hell no!" was Chad's answer. "All she knows is that I was thinking about you when I was talking to her. I'm sure she suspects something more, but that's all. Can you imagine what would happen if she did know everything?"

"My thoughts exactly," she said. "We don't have to worry about anything for now. Everyone knows that Becky and I hate each other. They'll just think that the fight had something to do with that. She'll never tell them the truth, she cherishes her reputation to much."

They were quiet for awhile until Chad's head snapped up. "What does Sharpay know?" he asked suspiciously.

She braced herself for what she knew was coming. "Everything," she said simply.

"What do you mean everything?" Chad exploded.

"Don't yell at me," she shot back. "Sharpay isn't stupid. She saw that both of our things were in the same room. Even if you could chalk that up to coincidence, what about the fact that we were gone at the same time? It wouldn't take much for someone to comment where you were around her when she knew I was upstairs. She'd have to be mentally retarded not to realize something was going on."

Chad dragged his hands across his face. "So she knows about the classroom too?" He made a sound of frustration at her nod. "So now two people know about us? That's just great. What the hell am I going to do when it gets around school that I was caught cheating on Becky with you?"

The way he said you, made her feel a spurt of hurt and anger. Anger won out. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean? Would it hurt your reputation if everyone knew you couldn't keep your hands off me?" She balled up her fists in an effort to prevent herself from striking him.

"Keep my hands off you? Please Taylor, you threw yourself at me."

It took every ounce of willpower Taylor had not to break his nose with a right hook. "That's the same argument you used last time remember? How many times are you going to lie and say that it was all me, when I distinctively remember you kissing me first each time. Was I throwing myself at you when you called Becky my name?"

"Don't flatter yourself McKessie. The only reason I called her your name was because it happened with you." Looking her up and down disdainfully, he said, "I can't believe that I actually lost Becky because of you."

That was the final straw for Taylor. Opening her car door, she said, "Go fuck yourself Chad. I can't believe that I actually thought you were a decent guy for one minute. You're the egotistical, self-centered, selfish asshole I've always thought you were. I'm sorry that you aren't with Becky anymore. The two of you deserve each other."

Without waiting for him to reply, she got in her car and sped out of the parking lot without looking back.

**ok did u like it? i loved how taylor kicked her ass ok its 2 minutes now just review plz bye**

**kialajaray**


	5. the pool

**ok, i'm really glad that so many people liked the last chapter. personally, i think becky deserved it. ne way, this is the next chapter. not much in this one, but the next one is going to b really good. ok on with the show, er...story**

Taylor sighed as she lay in her bed. It was two days before Christmas and she was miserable. After going home and sulking for an hour, Taylor decided to act like nothing had ever occurred between her and Chad. The last days of school before break were filled with so much hostility between she and Chad that the principal had to threaten to suspend them to make them stop.

Troy and Gabby had tried to mediate the problem, but that didn't work. They all just assumed that the renewed hostilities were because Chad still had some lingering feelings for Becky despite what he said and defended her against Taylor.

All of them except Sharpay. Thankfully, she didn't say or ask Taylor anything. Taylor didn't think that she would be able to handle the inquisition that she knew Sharpay would give her. She was still reeling for the insults that Chad had given her. And threw it all, she still loved the jackass. As much as she didn't want to, she did.

A knock on the door brought her out of her thinking. "Come in," she called. She watched as Trey walked into her room, the phone in his hand.

"For you."

"Full sentences, sweetie. They'll get you far in life." She told him.

Rolling his eyes, he handed her the phone and left the room. Putting the phone to her ear, she said, "Hello?"

"Hey Taylor, it's me Sharpay."

"Hey Shar, what's up?"

"Everyone's coming over to my house to exchange gifts, we need you to come over," the girl on the other end told her.

Taylor paused. Everyone usually included Chad. She just wasn't in the mood to argue with him. "I can't Sharpay, you know that me and Chad can't be in the same room together."

She heard her friend make a grunt of disbelief. "Tell that to my guest room," she heard her mumble.

"Sharpay…" Taylor started.

"Alright fine sorry. I won't bring it up. But I didn't mean everyone everyone. Just the girls. Zeke's coming over later today, so just bring their presents and I'll give them to him."

"I still don't think-" she started to say but was cut off by Sharpay.

"I already said lover boy won't be here. Just bring your presents and we'll have a girl day. Just you, me, Gabby, Martha, and Kelsie in my room. Promise."

After finally agreeing to go, she hung up with Sharpay and got off her bed. Going to her closet, she gathered all the presents she had for her friends. When her hand rested on the last one, she paused. It was Chad's gift. What was she going to do with it now? She couldn't give it to him without raising questions from her friends and contempt from Chad. They weren't going to be there, so maybe she could just slip her present to him unnoticed and no one would realize it was from her.

Deciding to do that, she put the gift with the rest and made her way down stairs. After saying goodbye to her family, got to her car and drove it out of the driveway. Her mood was improving already at the thought of having a girl's day with her friends. She hadn't seen much of Gabby since break, and hadn't seen Sharpay, Martha, or Kelsie at all. Hopefully they'd be able to get her mind off of Chad.

Twenty minutes later, Taylor pulled up to the Evans home. Gathering her things, she made her way to the front door and knocked. Ryan answered it.

"Hey Taylor. Come on in. The girls are upstairs doing God knows what. Have fun." He waved his hand towards the stairs.

"You're not going to join us," she asked. Usually if Sharpay was somewhere, then so was he.

He gave her a look. "Please, I'm around enough estrogen as it is. I'll pass thanks."

Laughing, she made her way up the stairs to Sharpay's room. It wasn't hard to find because she could hear voices from down the hall. As she made her way towards the voices, she passed to guestroom that her and Chad had ended up in. Trying not to turn red, she quickly made her way passed the door and came to a stop in front of a light pink painted door.

Before she could raise her hand to knock, the door swung open and Sharpay was taking some of the gifts out of her hands.

"It's about time that you got here," the blonde told her.

"Nice to see you too Sharpay," Taylor said dryly.

Rolling her eyes, Sharpay lead Taylor inside and put the gifts with another big pile on the floor next to her bed. "We've been waiting for you so we can start the movie." She turned to see Kelsie who was putting a DVD into the player on top of the TV.

After saying hi to her two other friends, she say and the bed. "What are we watching," she asked.

"A Walk to Remember," Sharpay said. "I wanted Gone with the Wind, but I got out voted."

"Shar," Martha said. "That movie is like five days long. Plus Scarlet was a whore."

"I think the movie was very sad." Gabby put in. "When she finally realized that she loved him, he left."

"As much as I would love to talk about a movie that's over twice our age, combined," Kelsie said, sitting besides Taylor. "Let's just watch this one."

Two hours later, the five girls were sniffling and wiping away the tears that poured down their faces.

"That was so sad," Kelsie said after a loud sniff. "I would kill to have someone who love me that much."

Before any girl could comment, there was a short knock on the door before it opened. "Look who's come to crash the-" Troy started, but stopped short when he saw all the girls faces.

Following behind him were Jason, Zeke, Chad and Ryan, who had been laughing at a joke that one of them had said, but just like Troy, stopped short when they saw the girls faces.

Looking at Sharpay with concern, Zeke said, "What's wrong? What happened?"

The basketball players waited expectantly for the answer while Ryan rolled his eyes. "Which one was it," he asked. "The Notebook, or A Walk to Remember?"

Wiping her eyes, and sniffing one last time, Martha said, "A Walk to Remember."

While the rest of the teenagers joked about the situation, Taylor sent Sharpay, who was sitting right next to her, a death glare. "I thought you said that he wasn't going to be here," she hissed in a low whisper.

"How was I supposed to know," Sharpay shot back. "They must have decided to go with Zeke when he came. Ryan wouldn't have invited Chad if he knew you were here."

"Look, either he leaves, or I do." Taylor had finally been able to take her mind off of Chad for a while. The last thing she needed was an argument with him to ruin her mood.

"You weren't saying that when you were wrestling with him on the guest bed a few weeks ago."

Taylor's outraged gasp at Sharpay's comment drew everyone's attention to them. At the shake of her head, they continued with their conversations.

"That was a low blow," Taylor said to her.

Sharpay shrugged her shoulders. "It's the truth. Look, it's only for a few hours, then you won't have to see him again until school starts back up. And try to control yourself," Sharpay added as she got up. "We just got the carpets cleaned and my mother would hate it if you got blood on them."

She watched her friend walk to Zeke and start a conversation with him. Taylor was sure that it would only be a matter of time before they made the official announcement that they were dating. Unfortunately, Gabby and Troy weren't the same. For some reason, and Taylor couldn't figure out why, they were still acting timid and shy around each other. It would drive Taylor insane if she were in her friend's position, but thankfully she wasn't in Gabby's position.

Sighing, she leaned against the head board and watched the people in the room. She tried to prevent it, but her eyes went to Chad's form. He was laughing at something Ryan had just said, and the sight of his smile made her stomach turn to jelly.

Taylor didn't know what made her so crazy about him. She and Chad were as opposite as opposite could get. He was into the social aspects of high school, while she was devotedly focused on the academics. He was more into the superficial things about a person, and that clashed with her caring more about who the actual person was.

The list on how they were opposite went on and on, but that still didn't change the fact that she was crazy about him. She didn't know why, but wasn't sure that she would change it if she could.

The fact that they were totally wrong for each other didn't help her at all. Neither did the fact that they fought like cats and dogs. She wished that they could get along and be friends, even if they weren't anything more. But it seemed like no matter how good the conversation started off, they would end up arguing and almost coming to blows.

Life, Taylor realized, never worked out the way you wanted.

"I know," Sharpay suddenly exclaimed. "Why don't we have a water balloon fight?"

"A water balloon fight," her brother asked her skeptically. "Why?"

"Well, it's almost Christmas, and we don't get any snow, so we can't have a snow ball fight, plus it's hot outside, so let's just go fill up a bunch of balloons and have a water fight."

Everyone thought it was a good idea but Taylor. "I don't think so you guys. I really don't want to get my hair wet, and plus, it's getting late-"

She was cut off by Gabby. "It's only three in the afternoon. That's not too late for anything. Stop making excuses. It'll be fun. We'll even have teams. Boys against girls. Is that fine with everyone?"

Taylor gave up arguing. She knew that her friends were going to make her play one way or the other, so she decided to go along with it.

After gathering the balloons, they made their way outside to fill them up. The conversation was minimal until Jason said, "I kind of miss Gossip World. It almost makes me want to go back to school just so I could read it." As the conversation flowed about the gossip column and it's columnist, someone eventually brought up the wager Sharpay had made.

"Are you really going to give someone a thousand dollars if they find out who writes the column?" Chad asked.

"Of course I am. But I doubt if anyone is going to figure out who it is. It's been four years, and other than Mr. Matsui no one knows who she is."

"I say it's a guy," Ryan said.

"Confessing," Troy asked as he divided the water balloons up. "I could use a thousand dollars."

"If its Ryan," Kelsie asked. "Then why would he admit that he thinks it's a boy? That's practically giving himself away. We know that it has to be someone in our grade. Gossip World started when we were freshmen and if it was anyone older than us, it would have stopped by now."

"You have a point, Kelsie." Taylor said as she collected her allotted balloons. "I don't know who Miss Gossip is, but I know one thing."

"What's that?" Zeke asked.

"Girls get first point." As she said it, she threw a water balloon at the nearest boy, who happened to be Chad. The ball hit his chin, soaking the front of his shirt. The girls laughter was heard as they all ran in five different directions.

Fifteen minutes into the game, the girls realized that Troy hadn't divided the balloons up evenly as they had thought. Realizing that her team only had a few left, Taylor yelled, "Hide!" Quickly, they all ran to find a place to take cover.

As she ran, she heard Zeke say, "We'll find you." Not looking back, she turned the corner of the house and ran to the pool area. Hiding behind a bush by the pool, she waited until she heard someone coming. Realizing that they were going to walk right past her hiding spot, Taylor decided to wait until they were right in front of her, and push them into the pool.

She waited quietly until she heard footsteps in front of the bush. Then, without waiting to see who her victim was, she jumped up. Yelling "Surprise!" she pushed the boy into the pool. Unfortunately, the boy wasn't facing the pool like she had assumed, but was facing her. Catching her arm, whoever it was grabbed on to Taylor's arm and they both went into the water with a huge splash. Coming up for air, Taylor laughed as she pushed her wet hair out of her face. Hearing whoever she pushed into the pool come up behind her, she turned around with a smile on her face. Seeing who it was, it immediately left.

It was Chad. And she could tell by the look on his face when he saw her, he hadn't known she was the one who pushed him in the pool. Her good mood vanished. Had she known that he was the one in front of the bush, she would have kept hiding. She was having a good day, despite the fact that she was around him. Now, she knew what would happen. Within five minutes, they would be at each other's throats. Taylor did not want such a good day to be ruined by their arguing.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she made her way to the edge of the pool. "I didn't know it was you."

"Oh, sure you didn't." Taylor was wrong, it hadn't even taken one minute.

Sighing, she turned around when she made it to the edge. She stopped short when she saw that Chad was less than a foot away from her. Ignoring his close proximity, she said, "I don't want to argue with you today Chad. I really didn't know that it was you I was pushing into the pool. Trust me, if I had known, I would have let you walk right by."

"You just couldn't resist the urge to push me into a pool and you know it."

Taylor gave up. He wouldn't believe that she hadn't done it on purpose, and it was senseless to stay there and argue with him. Sighing again, she told him, "You can believe what you want, I'm going to find the others." Before she could turn around to get out of the pool, Chad was directly in front of her, with both his arms on either side of her.

"You don't intimidate me Chad." She told him evenly. She was barely able to ignore how fast her heart was beating and she prayed he didn't notice how short of breath she was.

She could tell by the way he smirked, that he had. He opened his mouth to say something, and before Taylor even realized what she was doing, she kissed him full on the mouth. She felt Chad freeze, but was undeterred by it. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him even harder thrusting her tongue into his mouth.

Before she had even realized that his hands had moved, they were wrapped around her waist, pulling her to him until they were pressed against each other. Feeling his tongue thrust against hers, encouraged her to run her hand into his hair and pull his head closer to hers.

Taylor wasn't sure how long they were floating in the pool, kissing, and she honestly didn't care. All she cared about was never letting the kiss end. After a few more moments, Chad slowly lifted his head away from hers, and gently pushed her away from him.

Taylor tried to catch her breath as she slowly looked at him. When their eyes met, she realized what had just happened and what she had done. "Oh God," she said then scrambled out of the pool.

Chad was right behind her. "Taylor wait," he said catching her arm.

She tried to get out of his grasp but he just held on tighter. Not meeting his eyes, she said, "The others are going to be looking for us. We should get back."

He gave a short laugh. "I doubt that. Troy went after Gabby so they might not be back until next year, and Sharpay made sure Zeke would follow her, so they aren't coming back anytime soon either. And the other four are probably still throwing balloons at each other."

Realizing that his grip has slacked, Taylor seized the opportunity and quickly got her hand free. "Did Jason go after Kelsie, and Ryan after Martha?"

Nodding, Chad said, "Yeah, why?"

"Jason and Kelsie have been crazy about each other for months, and Martha and Ryan have been making googly eyes at each other since the play tryouts, so they might not be back either."

Shrugging, he said, "Maybe, either way we won't be missed for a few more minutes."

"Well," she said, trying to walk past him. "I'd rather go back now. I need to talk to Gabby about something."

Chad made a loud sound of frustration. "We can't act like nothing just happened."

"Why not?" Taylor shot back. "That's what I fully intend to do. Watch. What are you talking about just happened? I don't have any clue what you're talking about."

She walked past him to get her remaining balloons. "Damn it, Taylor." She heard from behind her.

Turning around, she yelled, "Don't cruse at me!"

"Well, what do you expect?" he yelled back. "You're being intentionally stupid."

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to excuse me if I'd rather not hear how you can't believe you lost Becky because of me again." Why in the hell had she brought that up? It was true, that was a reason why she didn't want to talk about what just happened, but she shouldn't have said it out loud.

"Look," he said after a pause. "I'm sorry that I-"

"Don't be," she cut him off. "If you didn't mean it then you wouldn't have said it, and you shouldn't be sorry for how you feel. At least this time, no one is going to find out about it." Before he got a chance to reply, she walked away from him and around the corner towards the group that were her friends.

Catching up with her, he said, "So you aren't going to talk about this?"

"Nope," she said simply. "And I'm not going to listen while you talk either. We kissed, it happened. It's not the first time but it is the last."

"You're being stupid.," he told her.

She couldn't reply because by now they were in ear shot of their friends. Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me that you two are arguing again."

"No." They both said.

Their friends were quiet as they looked at them.

"That had to be the first time I've seen you two agree on something." Jason said.

Taylor decided to ignore that comment. But before she could say anything, Kelsie asked, "What happened to the two of you?"

"I hid behind a bush and pushed him in the pool. He grabbed my arm and took me with him."

Sharpay looked at them critically for a moment, then said, "That's better than what any of us did. I threw my last balloons at Zeke, then he drenched me with all of his."

"Thanks for reminding me," Taylor said. Before anyone realized what she was going to do, she threw her last two balloons at Troy, one hitting him in the face, the other in the chest. "That's for cheating and giving your team more balloons."

The teenagers stayed at the Evans home for a few more hours, then eventually they all departed. Taylor wasn't home for ten minutes when she got a phone call.

Without even saying hello, Sharpay said, "What happened."

"Hello to you too, Sharpay," Taylor said dryly.

"I don't have time for niceties. I know something happened between you and Chad. Tell me." Sharpay demanded the last.

"Nothing happened," she lied. "We fell in the pool, got out and then we saw you guys. End of story."

"If you expect me to believe that, you're insane," Sharpay said. "If you tell me, I'll tell you if anything happened between Gabby and Troy."

Taylor was confused now. "How would you know? Did she tell you something?"

"Of course not. There's something called surveillance cameras. You can't have a home without them. I just took all the footage from when we spilt up. I haven't looked at it yet, but by the end of the night, I'll know who made out with who."

"You know," Taylor said. "I really think you could be Miss Gossip."

"Oh, please," Sharpay said. "Why would I give up my secrets? Anyway, I was calling to see if you wanted to tell me before I looked for myself."

Taylor was caught, and she knew it. "Alright, fine. After we fell in the pool, before we got out, we kissed. Happy now?"

"Who kissed who first," Sharpay asked.

Taylor didn't want to admit the truth. "Does it matter?"

"I'll find out either way," Sharpay reminded her.

She sighed. "I kissed him. But it's not going to happen again."

"Sure it isn't," her friend told her.

"Like you can talk Sharpay," Taylor said to her. "I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed the dazed look on Zeke's face."

"Jealous much?" Sharpay asked her. "It's not my fault that our lips match perfectly."

They talked for a few more minutes until Sharpay had to go. Wishing each other a Merry Christmas, they hung up.

As Taylor got ready for bed, she figured out a way that prevented her and Chad from mauling each other every time they were close to each other. All she had to do was avoid being alone with him. That was the perfect plan for Taylor. Neither one of them would kiss the other one while someone was around. All she had to do was make sure that someone was with them at all times.

She didn't realize that it was easier said than done.

* * *

**ok so tell me what u think about this one. damn i just thought about it. this is chapter 5 and i only have 8 written. i need to write me. but dont worry its not a long story. i might update later tonight or 2morrow. **

**kialajaray**


	6. the propostion

**ok here's the next chapter. i'm glad that everyone likes it so much. ok on with the story.**

As Taylor changed for bed two days later, she was sad to see the day end. She had always loved Christmas with her family. Other than Thanksgiving, it was the only time that she actually got to spend time with them all at the same time. The past few days had been spent helping her mother and sisters prepare Christmas dinner and teasing her brothers.

After opening presents in the morning, Taylor had called all her friends to wish them a Merry Christmas. After that, she had spent the rest of the day either, cooking, eating, or just spending time with her family. She hadn't had the time to think of Chad once.

That's why it was a total shock when Taylor saw him coming threw her balcony doors.

After getting over her initial shock, the situation set in on Taylor. Thankfully, she had just finished putting on her clothes right before Chad open her door. Now, all she had to do was get him out of her room.

"What are you doing," she asked in a loud whisper. "Have you lost your mind?"

Closing the balcony doors, he shook his head. "I told you that we had to talk."

"Have you lost your mind," she asked again quickly looking at her room door to make sure it was locked. "Do I have to remind you that I have a father and three brothers, all of them twice your size in muscle? If they catch you up here, your parents won't ever find your body."

Chad rolled his eyes. "No one saw me so stop worrying."

"I'll stop worrying even more when you leave." As she said it, she was trying to push him back towards the doors, but he wasn't budging. "I'm serious. If you're caught up here I'll never be able to see daylight again until I'm forty."

"I'm not leaving until we talk," he told her stubbornly.

"Nothing can be important enough to risk your life and my freedom." She paused as she thought about something. "How did you get up here?"

"I climbed a tree," he said shrugging. Looking her up and down he said, "Nice pajamas."

Taylor felt her face grow warm. Her pajama bottoms were short shorts, that were on the tight side, and top was a tank that was in the same condition. Trying to hide her embarrassment, she said, "What I'm wearing isn't important. What is important is the fact that you need to leave. Now."

He shook his head again. "I'm not leaving until we talk."

Before Taylor could voice her objection, a knock came at her door. "Taylor? Can I come in? I have to ask you a question." Oh god, it was Trevor. He'd rip Chad apart limb by limb before he even knew what hit him.

"Hold on, I'm changing," she lied as she pushed Chad towards her closet. "Get in," she whispered to him. "And don't even breathe."

"Come on Tay, what are you doing," Trevor called again.

Shoving Chad in the closet, she closed it and rushed to her door. Opening it, she stuck her out. "What's up," she asked her brother.

Pushing past her, he went into her room. "I heard you talking to someone."

"Just myself," she said innocently.

Facing her, he eyed her warily. "Since when do you talk to yourself?"

"Since the rest of you up and left for college, leaving me by myself." Taylor was starting to get nervous. Trevor wasn't stupid and she had never been a very good at lying to her siblings.

"I think that someone is in here with you," her brother said, giving her a hard stare.

Taylor rolled her eyes at him. "And how would he get up here? Unless he's Spider Man, I don't know anyone else who can climb up a smooth brick wall. Now, did you want something, other than coming to see if I was fornicating with some boy?"

Walking to her door, he said, "I know I heard you talking to someone."

"I told you already, I was talking to myself." Giving him a kiss on the cheek, she continued, "Love you, goodnight." Before he could answer, she closed the door in his face, and locked it again. Leaning against it, she wished she could get rid of Chad as easily.

Facing him, she saw that he was going to say something. Making a motion for him to keep silent, she listened until she heard her brother's steps receding down the hall. When she was sure that they were out of danger, she turned her anger on him. "Do you know what would have happened if he had caught you in here? You must want a death wish. What in the hell is so important that you just couldn't wait until we were somewhere other than my room to say to me?"

Sitting on her bed, he looked at her. "I'm sorry that I almost got you into trouble, but we have to talk about what's going on between us."

Suddenly, Taylor remembered the decision she made two days ago never to be alone with him. That plan had gone up in smoke. "Hormones," she said. "that's all there is to it."

"Whatever it is," he said, "we have to do something about it. We can't keep making out with each other, then acting like nothing happened afterwards."

"I don't see why not," Taylor said. "It's been working so far. Why fix something that isn't broken?"

Chad looked at her like she was crazy. "It's only going to be a matter of time until we get caught by someone other than Kelsie or Sharpay. And after being the last ones to get back a few days ago, I'm sure that the others suspect something. Do you want to think about what's going to happen when everyone finds out that we've been messing around in secret?"

Sighing, Taylor sat down next to him. "I know. I'm worried about that too. But I think that I might have found a solution to our problem."

Chad looked at her skeptically. "Which is?"

"We stay away from each other completely," she said. "And don't ever be alone. Eventually, whatever it is between us will go away." Taylor highly doubted it on her part, but she knew that eventually Chad would forget what was between them and find someone else.

"I have a better idea," Chad said, turning his body towards her.

"And what's that." she asked.

Before she knew it, she was laying on her bed with Chad over her, his face so close to hers, the his breath tickled her neck. "We give into our attraction," he said, pausing to rain kisses from her chin to her neck, sending shivers threw her. Continuing, he said, "And see where it takes us."

By then, Taylor couldn't concentrate on what he was saying, his hand were touching her everywhere, turning her skin to fire in its wake. She gave a small groan when he licked a pulse point in the hollow of her neck. He trailed his lips up her neck, and kissed her mouth. Opening her mouth, she met his tongue thrust for thrust.

After awhile he lifted his head, "So what do you say," he asked her. She was barely able to register what he said because at the same time, he ran his hand up her thigh.

"I…don't think that would be a good idea," she said, but arched into him when his hand went further up her thigh. Taylor couldn't think at all. All she knew was Chad. His touch, his taste, his smell. She wasn't worried about anything or anyone outside of this room.

Smiling, he said, "Your body knows what you want better than you do." She gave a shudder when he kissed her behind her ear. "No one has to know, it could be our little secret." It took a few moments for what he said to sink into Taylor's brain. When it did, she went cold.

Freezing, she asked him, "So no one would know about us? It would be kept a secret?"

Chad was too involved with what he was doing to notice that Taylor had grown unresponsive and the ice that had appeared in her voice.

"Of course we would keep it a secret," he said. "Why would we tell anyone?"

Taylor had heard enough. Pushing him on his shoulders, she said, "Get off me."

Leaning up, he looked down at her. "Why?" The idiot had the nerve to actually sound confused. "What's wrong."

Pushing him away from her completely, Taylor stood up. "You need to leave, now."

Chad had finally had her tone. "What's wrong," he asked again. "What happened to change your mind?"

She glared at him. "Let me see if I get this straight, you want to have sex with me, but nothing else, right?"

"It wouldn't be just sex Taylor," he said, "There's something between us, and nothing is wrong with seeing what it is."

"Just as long as no one knows about it right?" She was ready to throw all the contents of her room at him.

"That's what this is about," he asked confused. "Taylor, be realistic. You know that we wouldn't work, so why bother with the whole girlfriend, boyfriend thing? Everyone in our business, wondering about what our most recent fight is about. I had to deal with that enough with Becky, I don't want to go threw it again."

Being compared to Becky, finally sent Taylor over the edge. "So I'm good enough to be a secret fuck buddy, but not good enough for you to have a public relationship with, am I correct?"

He ran his fingers threw his hair. "It's not like that at all Taylor."

Folding her arms, she looked at him scornfully. "Then enlighten me, please."

"It's just that," he said. "With my reputation, I can't-"

She wouldn't let him finish. "I get it now, your reputation would be tarnished if you were with me, right? No, don't even bother denying it, I see it perfectly now. I'm fine for a couple of secret rolls in the bed until you get tired of me, but not good enough to be your girlfriend. I don't know what kind of girl you think I am, but let me tell you, that isn't it."

Walking to the balcony doors, she opened them and stepped aside. "Get out of my room. I'm getting sick to my stomach just looking at you. Don't come back and don't get caught leaving. You aren't worth the trouble."

Chad opened his mouth to say something, then stopped. Shrugging, he said, "Whatever, suit yourself." Without looking back, Chad walked out of her room, closing the door firmly behind him.

Taylor sat down on her bed and felt the stinging of her eyes, and the heaviness of her throat. Taking deep breaths, she tried to keep them at bay, but the tears fell anyway and she sobbed into her pillow until she fell an exhausted sleep.

--

_Welcome back to school, EHS. My, my, my, all the things that have happen over the break. I don't know where to begin. Sharpay and Ryan Evans had another party for New Year's Eve. This time no furniture was broken or damaged. Almost everyone was there. Someone who wasn't there however, was Miss Taylor McKessie. Only one can speculate why she wasn't present. Was it in effort to avoid another confrontation with Chad Danforth? Or maybe it was from a fall in a pool? Whatever it is, we are very happy that nothing occurred to ruin the night. And speaking of her nemesis, it would seem that the lack of someone to argue with didn't deter him from girlfriend hunting. He was seen flirting with every popular unattached female at the party. All I can say to that is, glad you're not nursing a broken heart Chad. Richard Johnson was also seen girlfriend hunting, too bad that he forgot that he already had one…_

Taylor did not want to go back to school. After crying herself to sleep after Chad left, she barely ever left her room. After asking her hundreds of times what was wrong, her family finally gave up and let her wallow in her misery alone. She turned off her cell phone and wouldn't take any calls from the house phone. The only friend she had talked to was Sharpay, who had asked her to come to her New Year's Eve party. She had lied and said that she wasn't feeling very well and couldn't make it. She felt bad for lying to her friend, but would gladly do it again to avoid the alternative.

She was still too hurt and angry with Chad to have to deal with him. And going off of her track record with him and parties at the Evans, she was positive that she had made the right choice in not going. After reading Gossip World, Taylor knew that she had made the right decision on Christmas night. He hadn't even waited a whole week until he went looking for someone else. That fully proved to Taylor that what ever he thought was between them was purely physical on his side. That Chad cared more about his reputation more than her, would be something that Taylor didn't think she would ever get over.

As she walked to her locker, she didn't know why she was surprised. Chad had never hidden the fact that he saw her socially inferior to himself. Taylor supposed that it must have been the glimmer of hope she has at the thought that they might be more than enemies. That had blinded her to everything else.

As she dug threw her locker, she was preoccupied with her thoughts to notice Gabby approaching her. So she jumped a little when Gabby said, "Hey Taylor. I've been trying to call you since the day after Christmas. Where have you been?"

Turning to her friend, Taylor smiled slightly as she said, "Sorry. I came down with a little cold. I was in bed until yesterday."

Taking in her friend's appearance, Gabby said, "Are you sure you're better you look kind of…"

Taylor laughed at unfinished sentence. "Rough, I know." It was true. Taylor usually would wear her hair flowing around her shoulders. Now, it was pull back in a slightly messy ponytail. Taylor's clothes also resembled how she felt. She had opted-out her usual brightly colored blouses, instead she put on a dark colored old t-shirt and an even older pair of baggy jeans.

Before her friend could ask her any more questions, she changed the subject. "How was the party?"

Gabby immediately brightened. Taylor only paid half attention to her friend's chatter as she gave her a play by play of the events from the party. After awhile, Taylor realized that her mind was wandering, not wanting to hurt her friends feelings, she decided to give Gabby her full attention.

"…I don't know why Sharpay and Zeke just make it official already. They were glued to the hip all night."

"You know how Sharpay is, she had to keep everyone guessing."

They chatted more about the couple as they left Taylor's locker and walked down the hall. As they turned the corner, they saw that their friends were walking towards them from the opposite direction. After greeting one another, Jason looked at Taylor and said, "Long time, no see."

Taylor shrugged. "I've been sick, that's all."

Before anyone could reply, Chad said, "Like we can't notice. Did you just roll out of bed and come here? I can't actually believe that you put any kind of effort in your appearance."

"Come on man, not today," Troy said.

"No, it's alright Troy," Taylor told him. Taylor couldn't do it anymore. All the fighting, insults, and sarcasm on top of what had happened in the last month was too much for Taylor. She had had enough.

"I'm not going to argue with you anymore," she told Chad. "I'm done."

She walked past him, but only got a few steps when he said, "You're done? That sounds like a cop-out to me. You just know that all the things I've been saying are right."

Turing to face him, Taylor looked him straight in the eye and said, "What I know is that you aren't worth it, you never were. I get disgusted with myself anytime I think about all the dealings I've had with you. You're an ass and a bastard. I want to throw up when I realized how low I stooped with you. You're beneath me Chad, and I don't even want to look at you ever again. But since we go to the same school, I'll have to settle for acting like you don't exist. So do me and favor and do the same."

She could tell from the look in Chad's eyes that he had caught the double meaning in what she said to him. She saw that all of her friends but Sharpay and Kelsie were dumbfounded. Kelsie looked skeptical, and Sharpay looked sad. She would have laughed if she didn't want to cry. As long as they had known her and Chad, she and him had been fighting. She was sure that it would make the headline of the next issue and Gossip World.

Without giving anyone a chance to say anything, Taylor whirled around, and got lost in the mesh of students.

--

It was lunch time later that day, and usually Taylor would be in the cafeteria with Gabby eating, but today she was in the science lab working on a project the wasn't even assigned yet. She knew that she wouldn't be able to deal with everyone's questions and inquiring looks. After she walked away from Chad and her friends, she had went straight to her homeroom and waited for it to start. She knew that Gabby was dying to ask her what was wrong, but she didn't want to have to lie again. So instead she decided to hide in the science lab.

She didn't understand how Chad could go on and act like nothing had ever occurred between them. Something that meant everything to her, meant next to nothing to him. She wondered what he expected her to do when he got another girlfriend. Wait patiently until he felt like having sex with someone other than his girlfriend, and welcome him with open arms when he came to her?

Getting angrier by the second, she went back to her project, but less than two minutes later, her mind went back to it's original thought. As much as she tried not to, she had thought about what would have happened if she had taken Chad up on his offer. She knew that she had made the right decision in refusing him, whatever they would have had would have been wonderful while it lasted, but the whole point was that it wouldn't have. Taylor knew that eventually she wouldn't want to be his dirty little secret anymore. And Chad would most likely want her to stay that way. So she would end it and be left heartbroken. Or, he would get tired of her and end it, leaving her heartbroken. Either way she would be left heartbroken, it was a lose-lose situation for her, so why bother?

Knowing all of that still didn't stop a small part of her from wishing that had slept with Chad. She would probably regret it and hate herself for it for the rest of her life, but the same small part didn't really care. She prayed that was a normal reaction. Hopefully, years from now, she'll look back on this laugh, but she doubted it.

"There you are," a voice from behind her said.

Turning to the door, Taylor saw that it was Kelsie.

"Hey Kels, what's up?"

"I've been looking all over for you. You weren't at lunch and we go worried."

"I wasn't that hungry," Taylor said. "So I decided to catch up on some work."

Sitting down next to her, Kelsie was quiet for a few minutes. Suddenly, she said, "Is everything alright Taylor?"

Taylor didn't try to mistake her meaning. "Yes, I'm fine. I just got tired of arguing and fighting over and over again. And for what? We aren't going to see each other again after high school. Maybe ten year from now at the reunion, so what's the point?"

They were silent again until the bell. gathering their things, they had made it to the hallway when Kelsie said, "Sometimes people act defensive to hide how they really feel, even when they don't know how they really feel."

Kelsie walked away from Taylor before she had a chance to respond.

**ok chad's an ass. we all know that. but dont worry he doesnt stay one. till 2morrow**

**kialajaray**


	7. the park and taylor's house

**ok, i'm glad that everyone liked the last chapter and my story in general. thank everyone again for reviewing. yes chad was an ass and no he doesnt stay one. so on with the story.**

_

* * *

I'm happy to report EHS that Zeke Baylor and Sharpay Evans have finally made it official. Even though everyone else, including myself have seen it coming for weeks. If only we could say the same for others. Kelsie Neilson and Jason Cross have been seen eyeing each other_ again_. It must be contagious because their friends Martha Cox and Ryan Evans have me wondering if their kiss in the musical was just acting like they want us to think. And to complete the list, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez are still flirting and acting shy around each other. I'm sure I'm not the only one rolling my eyes when I see them. Last, but not least in their group is Taylor McKessie and Chad Danforth. I'm surprised. I didn't believe that the two rivals would actually call it quits, but they have. It's been weeks since Miss McKessie called a halt to the hostilities and not one word has been spoken between the two. I'm still not sure if I will miss all the hallway fights between them or not. Becky Sterling was seen…_

Taylor sat in her living room, flipping threw the channels looking for something to watch. Not able to find anything, she threw the remote down disgusted. How you could have over a thousand channels and not find anything to watch was beyond her.

With her brothers and sisters being gone, and all her friends being busy, Taylor knew that it was just going to be her for the weekend. Glancing down at the remote with a glare, she decided to go to the park near by.

Leaving the house, she thought about the latest edition of Gossip World. She laughed when she remembered how uncomfortable her friends were after reading it, and with the exception of Sharpay and Zeke, none could look each other in the eye. She would have loved to be in the same position with Chad, but she knew things never worked out the way someone wanted them too.

The past weeks after she had told Chad she was threw with him weren't what anyone had expected. Everyone had thought that they would be arguing again after a few days. Miss Gossip had even wrote that she didn't think it would last more than a week. But she and Chad had surprised everyone. Not one word was spoken between the two since she had made her statement. Even when they were together with all their friends, they wouldn't speak to each other.

What made it complicated was that either she would catch him looking at her or vice versa. When that would happen, they'd quickly look away before anyone noticed. She didn't think anyone had, but knowing her friends, they could have and elected not to say anything.

The park was only a few blocks away from her house, so it didn't take long for her to get there. After she got there, she walked over to the vacant swings. Sitting down, she lightly pushed herself with her feet as she thought.

She didn't ever see her and Chad being anything more than…Taylor didn't even know what to call them. They definitely weren't friends, and now they weren't even enemies. Almost lovers, she decided to call them. Yes, she knew it was cliché, but she couldn't think of anything else.

Miss Gossip didn't help the situation either, that's for sure. It was a wonder that the looks they caught from each other wasn't in the school's gossip column. She wished that someone would reveal who it was or Miss Gossip would stop all together. The numerous conversations that she and the others had had after Sharpay's announcement had at one time or another ending up with everyone being accused. Ryan was open about his opinion that Sharpay was Miss Gossip and she only made the wager to rub it in everyone's nose.

Martha and Kelsie had almost gotten into an argument about why the other would most likely be Miss Gossip. And Taylor didn't even want to think about the fights the guys had gotten into on who was or wasn't Miss Gossip.

All and all, the wager had put everyone in the school against each other and there wasn't an end in sight. Whoever Miss, or Mr. Gossip was, Taylor knew that they had to be getting nervous. She had heard that a group of juniors had gone to school hours early just to corner whoever put the papers down. Thankfully the delivery man got away unharmed.

It would be funny if Taylor didn't have so much more on her mind. Leaning against a chain of the swing, she slowly pushed her feet back and forward as she thought about how glum her life was. If this was supposed to be the happiest time of her life, Taylor really didn't want to live to see thirty.

"Why so down in the dumps Taylor," a voice from behind her said. Turning, she watched as Brandon Scottsdale, a fellow decathlon member, sat down in the swing next to her.

"Hi Brandon," she said, mustering up a smile. She and Brandon had always gotten along and Taylor thought he was a good person. He was the smartest boy in school, he wasn't you're typical nerd. Even though he would choose homework over going out on a Saturday night, he still loved to hang out with his friends, and he told Taylor once that he was a black belt in karate. On top of that, he was a prefect gentleman. Opening doors for females, offering to carry their books, the whole shebang.

Taylor wondered mournfully why she couldn't be head over heels for him instead of someone who seemed to be his exact opposite.

"What are you doing here," she asked. "I thought that I was the only senior who still came to the park."

Smiling at her, he shrugged. "My little brothers wanted to come and wouldn't leave me alone until I brought them. What about you?"

"It was either this, or go stir crazy," she said smiling back at him. "Everyone's busy, parents' are at work, and all my brothers and sisters are back at school. So boredom sets in quick."

Getting up and walking behind her, he began to push her swing. "You're lucky. I can't remember the last time when my house was quiet. I don't think it ever has been."

"Try having six in one-" Taylor stopped talking abruptly because, and for the life of her she wouldn't be able to tell how, she was on the ground, on top of Brandon.

"Oomph," they both said when Taylor landed on him.

Sitting up quickly, she turned around to look at him. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened."

Waving her away, he sat up. "I'm fine," he said. "At least you had me to break your fall. I'm a pleasure to be of service."

Rolling her eyes, she backed away from him, certain that if he was able to make jokes, then he really was fine.

"But you know Taylor," he said, his grin getting bigger by the second.

"What," she asked him warily, not liking the grin at all.

"If you wanted to be in my arms, all you had to do was ask."

Taylor rolled her eyes again. "Don't tell me you're flirting with me."

"Why," he asked, still grinning. "Is it working?"

Laughing, he decided to play along. "Of course it is," she said. "Didn't you know that I fell into your arms on purpose. I just couldn't resist felling your strong arms around me."

Standing, he helped her up. "I'm hurt. Here I am, a human air bag for you, and all you can do is make fun of my gallant gestures. I think that I deserve some pay back."

Before Taylor knew what he was about, he started to tickle her. Taylor, who was extremely ticklish, immediately dissolved into a fit of giggles, trying to stop his hands from attacking her body.

"Say you give," he said, easily evading her hands.

"Never," she was able to wheeze out.

"You asked for it," he said as h tickled her even more.

He tickled her until she was ready to give in. As she opened her mouth to cry uncle, a basketball hit their feet, stopping them.

Finally released from her captor, she caught her breath, and turned to thank her saviors and her voice caught in her throat. It was Troy, Zeke, Jason, and Chad. The last was looking between her and Brandon with an unreadable look on his face.

Picking up the ball, Brandon tossed it to Troy. "Here you go," he said.

"Thanks," Troy said catching it. She wasn't sure, but to her it seemed like Troy wasn't at all thankful. Turning his eyes to Taylor he said, "Hey Taylor."

Finally she had enough oxygen in her system to speak. "Hey, guys," she said. "What's up?"

Looking between her and Brandon, Zeke said, "Just playing some ball. What about you two?"

Brandon shrugged. "Just hanging out," he said simply.

"We can tell," Taylor heard Jason mutter. She sent him a sharp look that stop any further comment from any of them.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Taylor said, "Well, I think that it's time for me to go. I don't want my parents to call and get worried if I don't answer."

"I should get going too," Brandon said. "Do you want a ride home," he asked Taylor.

Shaking her head, she said, "No thanks, I live just a few blocks away. I can walk."

"Are you sure," Brandon asked her. "I don't mind making a detour."

"That's alright Brandon," Troy said in a very un-Troy like interruption. "We're going to Jason's and he's just two blocks away from Taylor. We can walk her."

"I really don't mind," Brandon started, but was cut off by Zeke in a very un-_Zeke_ like voice.

"Don't worry about it dude, we got it."

Brandon finally gave up. "Alright then, see in school Taylor, later guys.

They all gave various goodbyes, none of which was very polite.

When Taylor was sure that Brandon was out of earshot, she turned on her friends. "What was that about?"

"What was what about," Jason asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb, you guys were rude to Brandon. I want to know why." Taylor had never seen any of them act so rude to anyone but Chad, and that was only to her. They had done a complete role reversal. She didn't know why they were mean to him, but she was going to find out.

When they didn't answer, she folded her arms and looked at them. "Well," she said.

"He was totally hitting on you Taylor," Troy said.

"Oh God," she said, rolling her eyes. "He was not. He was just being polite. And why did you guys speak for me, I could have wanted a ride home."

Zeke gave her a look. "You already said that you were going to walk."

"Maybe I was just being polite. I could have wanted a nice ride in a car."

"And would have ended up in his back seat," Jason said.

"Get real Jason, his brothers are with him." Taylor didn't think that she was ever going to understand the male mind.

"That's what he told you," Troy said.

Taylor was certain. She wasn't _ever_ going to understand that male mind. " I highly doubt that he would make his little brothers walk just to get at me."

Turning, she walked away from them. They all, with the exception of Chad, who hadn't uttered one word, were crazy. Brandon and her were just friends. They joked around like that all the time. That was all there was to it.

The boys caught up with her easily. "We said we were going to walk you home, so we will."

Rolling her eyes again, she said sarcastically, "Why? Is he going to circle around and pick me up if he sees me alone?"

"Most likely," Zeke said seriously.

Frustrated, Taylor turned around and folded her arms again. "The last time I checked, my three older brothers were all taller and older than you three."

"You're a younger sister by default," Jason said. "We didn't like the way he was touching you."

Turning around and walking away from them again, she called over her shoulder, "We were playing. You've never had a tickle fight before?"

They caught up with her again. "Tickle fight my ass," Zeke said. "His hands were creeping higher and higher up your chest. And the drive you home scam? Do you know how many times that's been tried? How many times we've tired it?"

"Then maybe I should be worried about my friends shouldn't I? If you're doing all the things that you think he's doing, then the girls need to watch out don't they?"

"Don't change the subject," Troy said. "he was flirting and we know it. We were rude to show him not to do it again."

Taylor was thankful that they had made it to her block. She couldn't take much more of this misplaced protectiveness. They were driving her crazy. She thought that Toby, Trey, and Trevor were bad. They didn't have anything on these three.

Taking another route, she said, "Did you ever stop to think that even if he was flirting, I was flirting back?" She knew it was a lie before it came out of her mouth, she just couldn't see Brandon like that, and she didn't think that he saw her like that either.

But after it came out of her mouth, she realized it was a mistake. The boys were outraged. Except Chad, who still hadn't said one word. He was blank faced. She didn't have much time to register that because his friends started yelling at her at once.

"He was going to grope you if I hadn't thrown the ball at him, but it missed and hit you're feet," came one voice. Taylor thought it might have been Troy's, she wasn't sure.

"Why would you flirt with _that?_"

"You can't be serious."

Taylor wasn't sure who said which comment.

Finally reaching her front door, she turned and held her hand up to stop them from talking all at once. "If you promise to shut up about this nonexistent situation, you all can come in and have something to eat."

The boys quickly agreed. Opening the door, she let them in, but turned to Zeke. "I'm still telling Sharpay and the others."

Going to the kitchen, she took out chips from the pantry, and soda from the refrigerator. Putting it on the table, she said, "Have at it" as the phone rang.

It was her brother Trevor. "Hey Trevor," she said. "What's up?"

"Who's there? Is it some boy?"

Good lord, was it over protective brother day? "Yes, as a matter of fact, it's four hormone crazed, sex starved boys," she said to her brother. "You should be thanking them," she said before he could go on a rampage. "From what they say, they saved me from being taken advantage of."

"By who," her brother demanded.

"Just a friend," Taylor said annoyed. "We were having a tickle fight in the park and they thought they had to put an end to it and rudely send him on his way."

"Who was tickling who," he brother asked.

Taylor was wondering why in the hell it mattered, but answered her brother anyway. "He was tickling me."

"Tell them I said thank you."

Sighing, Taylor talked to her brother for a few more minutes then disconnected the phone. Turning back to the boys, she saw that the food was nearly gone already. She didn't know how her mother did it with three boys at once.

After setting more food on the table, she sat down. Taking a sip of soda, she told the group at large, "My brother says thank you."

"Which one?" Troy asked.

"One of the twins. He seems to see something I don't. I guess I don't speak stupid guy code."

Belching loudly, Jason shrugged. "You'll never understand."

Taylor gave him a disgusted look. "I need more estrogen around here." Without expecting a reply from anyone, she dialed Sharpay's phone number.

After explaining the situation to her friend, and promising to tell her everything that happened at the park, Sharpay promised to call everyone else, and tell them to go to Taylor's.

--

"So when are we going to read about you and Brandon in Gossip World?" Taylor rolled her eyes at Gabby's comment. She should have known that Sharpay would have told the others about what happened at the park. They had talked about the subject more that Taylor had ever dreamed that they could.

Sharpay would make a hell of an interrogator. How long had she known him? Did she know he was going to be there? What did they talk about? What kind of friendship did they have? Did she like the tickling? Those questions and more that Sharpay had asked made Taylor's eyes cross.

"No," she answered her friend. "Me and Brandon aren't like that. We were just joking around at the park. And someone," she raised her voice so the boys, who were across the room, could hear "Blew it out of proportion."

The boys, who were in a deep discussion about something the girls had no clue about, barely acknowledged what she said. The only reply she got was "No we didn't," from Zeke, and then he went back to his conversation like he never had spoken to Taylor.

"Anyway," Taylor said, rolling her eyes at Zeke's antics. "Brandon just isn't Mr. Right."

"So," Sharpay said, shrugging her shoulders. "He doesn't have to be Mr. Right. He can be Mr. Right Now."

"So, is that what Zeke is," Gabby asked.

Sharpay was offended. "Of course not. That's more of a forever thing. we're getting married."

"Don't tell me he's asked you already and you agreed," Taylor said skeptically.

Rolling her eyes, Sharpay said, "Spare me. He doesn't have to ask. I'm going to tell him we're getting married and the date. All he has to do is show up."

Laughing, Taylor stood. "It's nice to know that Zeke doesn't have a say in any of it. I'm going get more drinks."

After entering the kitchen, Taylor let the smile fall from her face and sighed. She had been talking and joking with her friends all afternoon, and now the evening. It had started taking a toll on her. She didn't know why acting like Chad didn't exist was harder to do in her house than it was in school. She was in tune with everything he did. She knew when he left the room for something, would get shivers when she heard his wonderful laugh at something one of their friends said.

She knew that ignoring Chad after arguing with him constantly for years would be hard, but she didn't know it was going to be this hard. It was probably sick of her, but sometimes she missed arguing with him. It was highly likely that she needed professional help.

Opening the doors to the backyard, she sat down on the steps.

Maybe Sharpay was right. Maybe she should get a Mr. Right Now. Even though it was never like that, she had always liked Brandon. Nothing would be wrong with dating him to see where it goes.

She abruptly stopped her thinking. That wouldn't be right of her to use Brandon just to get over Chad. As bad as she wanted to get over what ever it was that she felt for Chad, she knew she couldn't use any one to do it.

Behind her, someone opened the door.

"Sorry," she started. "I just stepped out for some-" She stopped short when she turned and saw that it was Chad who walked threw the door.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi," she quietly replied back.

Expecting him to leave, she turned forward and looked ahead. So she was surprised when he sat down next to her.

Taylor tried to control her breathing, but as usual, her body went haywire whenever he was close.

They didn't speak for a few minutes. Then, he said, "So…how have you been?"

"Fine, and you," she answered. She didn't know what else to say. They hadn't been talking for so long, she couldn't come up with anything to make a conversation.

"Same," he said. It seemed like Chad was in the same position.

Not being able to take the silence for long, Taylor spoke up. "Don't you think that they're going to miss us?"

He rolled his eyes. "They decided to watch a movie and paired off. I felt like a third wheel. I doubt that they'll notice we're gone until a few minutes after the movie is over."

Taylor smiled. "You never know. Maybe they'll stop beating around the bush finally and start dating."

Chad shook his head. "I know my friends. In about two more weeks, they'll finally ask them out. And I give Ryan a few more days."

"Well," Taylor said. "I wish that they would all put each other and us out of out misery."

After laughing with her, he sobered up, and asked seriously, "Why can't we get along like this all the time?"

That caught her off guard. She hadn't even noticed that she and Chad hadn't argued or came close to it during the whole conversation.

She shrugged. "It's kind of hard to get along with someone who only wants you in bed, thinks that you're socially inferior to them, and thinks that you're so repulsive that they don't want to be seen in public with you."

She felt Chad stiffen next to her. Why did she have to open her mouth? Now, just like last time, her mouth was about to start another argument.

She waited for his comment, mentally preparing for a fight. Instead, what he said surprised her.

"I don't think that you're repulsive Taylor. If I thought that, then I wouldn't want you."

"Out of everything I just said, you focus on me saying that I think that you think I'm repulsive?" Taylor knew she should be grateful that they weren't shouting at each other. But she just couldn't understand why he would decide to pick that statement out of everything.

He copied her shrug. "It's the truth. And I don't think the you're socially inferior to me. It's just that we're from two different cliques, and-"

She cut him off.

"Please don't finish that statement. We've already been over how you can't publicly seen lowering yourself by being with me."

He gave a aggravated sigh. "Why are you trying to pick a fight?"

Taylor didn't realize until he said something that that was what she was doing.

Deeply sighing, she said, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to, but it just makes me a little angry when someone wouldn't mind having sex with me, but doesn't want anyone to know about it."

"Do we have to talk about that again." he asked getting angry.

Getting just as angry, she said, "How, would you feel if say one told you, 'I don't mind jumping your bones a few times, we just can't let anyone know about it?' You'd react the same way."

"Well, excuse me," he said sarcastically. "Not everybody can be like Brandon."

Taylor gave him a look of disbelief. "What does Brandon have to do with this?"

"So you can have a 'tickle fight' where he's practically groping you, that's fine, he a friend and you two were playing. But I'm up front with it, and I'm an asshole and a bastard. What sense does that make?"

"Not that whatever is or isn't going on with me and Brandon is you're business, but if there is, at least he doesn't care what it would do to his reputation."

"Whatever Taylor," he said brushing off her comment. "Something happens between us, you can't do it, you're not that kind of person. But, one of your _friends_ cops a feel, and it's fine."

"Like you can talk," she shot back. "How many girls have you gone threw since Becky? Let's see, there was Claudia, Amanda, Bridgette, Natalie, Ashley, and that's just half of them. I don't think I'll live long enough to name them all."

"Jealous McKessie?"

"Please," she said with disdain. "I've had it. Trust me, it's not that impressive."

"I know that you-" She cut him off.

"See, this is why we can't have a normal conversation. We either end up at each other's throat, or our tongues down them. I'm sorry, I just can't take this any more. Not with how much you-" She stopped, horrified at what she had almost said. She almost said how much he meant to her. Why had she almost said that? She had been hiding it for four years, she shouldn't have let it slip so easy.

"How much I what," he asked.

Shaking her head, she said, "Nothing, it's not important."

Getting up, she tried to go back into the house, but he stopped her by grabbing her arm. "What were you going to say?"

"I wasn't going to say anything. I told you it wasn't important. Just let it go." If she had said what she wanted, he'd get the shock of his life, and she wouldn't be able to face him again.

That thought made Taylor realize something. She wasn't going to see Chad again after high school. Why did it matter if she told him or not? If he did what she had worried he would do, and tell everyone, what would it matter? There was only a few months left of high school, after that, nothing anyone said would matter. At least she'd finally be able to get it off her chest.

Facing him, she started to speak. "I was going to say how much you mean to me. I've been in love with you since we were freshmen. Do you really think that I like the fact that you can barely stand me. And the only time you can is when we're practically having sex. On top of that, you don't even think that I'm good enough be seen with in public. So I'm sorry if I don't have the energy to do any of this anymore."

To say that Chad was shocked would have been an understatement. "Taylor…I," he said. "Well…uhh."

Taylor smiled sadly. "I didn't think so." She walked to the kitchen doors. "Come on," she said. "They're going to start looking for us soon, no matter what we say."

**yes, sad I know. but it'll get better. promise. ok i only have the next chapter fully finished so i'm going to try to write a chapter a day so u won't have to wait. i no i hate waiting 4 authors 2 update. but i dont want it to be rushed so plz bare with me and dont get mad. thankxs**

**kialajaray**


	8. gone

**ok, i'm glad that everyone liked the other chapter. i have like 15 mins b4 i have 2 b work so here it goes.**

_Oh, EHS. I come to you with a heavy heart. I must report that I have called it quits. Yes, this is the last issue that you will receive. Ever since Miss Evans's wager, friends have been against friends, brother against sister, and innocent delivery men have almost been injured. If that wasn't a problem, all I can say is that, I have tired of it. It has been four years since I began, and I don't feel the same way about this paper that I used to. Mayhap, I will return one day, mayhap not. Either way, I must bid farewell._

_Miss Gossip._

Taylor wished she could stay in bed until graduation came. As she turned off her car's engine in the parking lot of the school, she fought the wave of nausea that hit her.

She knew that Chad had told everyone what she told him two nights ago at her house. Being the cocky and arrogant person that he was, he couldn't have not told all his friends about her telling him she was in love with him. All she had to wait for was the whispers behind her back she would hear as she walked threw the halls.

When they had returned to their friends, if anyone had noticed their absence, they didn't comment. For the rest of the time they were there, Chad had a shocked and stunned look on his face. Taylor would of thought if funny under any other circumstances. Immediately after she rejoined her friends, the realization of what she just did fully hit her. She was sure that whatever reason she decided to tell him sounded good to her at the time, but now, all those reasons were incredibly stupid to her.

After her confession, she thought hard about the situation with Chad, and everything else with them. The main thing she thought about was why she loved him. At first, she couldn't think of any. She wasn't such a vapid person to say that she was in love with him because he as good looking. But still, she had trouble coming up with reasons why she loved him.

She weighed his pros and cons out. The former came up short. The only one she could come up with were he stood up for what he believed in. He believed that social cliques shouldn't mix, and regardless of what anyone told him, he more or less kept that opinion. Even though he was friends with drama geeks and nerds now, his proposal to keep quiet about them showed that it hadn't changed completely.

Another pro about him was that he had a sense of humor. He was the one always making people laugh and loosening them up. It was always strangely quieter when he wasn't around.

Sadly, those two and only a few others was all she could come up with pros for him. She didn't even want to think about how many cons she came up with. She had despaired that she really didn't love him for awhile.

Then she realized something. She didn't need to have a reason to love him. Even though she couldn't stand him half the time, Chadwick Danforth was the person she was in love with. Just because she didn't have a rational reason to love him didn't mean she didn't.

Leaving her car, she made her way into school and to her locker. She was very conscious to what people might be saying as she passed. She kept her head down and her ears opened in case she heard any whisperings. But she was surprised when she saw that most people were glued to a paper in their hands. Maybe Chad hadn't said anything about a few nights ago. She could only imagine how it would look in Gossip World.

When she reached her locker, she was about to open it when she saw her friends, minus Chad, having what looked like a very serious conversation.

Taylor's stomach dropped. Apparently Chad had told them about her confession. She was about to bolt the other way, but Ryan saw her and called out to her, causing everyone else to see her too.

She walked to them with a smile on her face, while she dreaded what she knew was going to happen.

When she reached them, Gabby looked at her and said, "I can't believe it. I never would have expected this. Not in a million years."

Taking a deep breath, Taylor said, "I know Gabby, it's just that-"

"I can't believe that she quit," Jason cut her off.

Taylor was seriously confused. "What," she asked.

Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

"You haven't read Gossip World yet," Kelsie asked her.

At the shake of her head, her friends quickly filled her in.

"Miss Gossip quit." That was from Troy.

"She just up and quit she barely even gave a reason." From her voice, Sharpay was outraged.

"She didn't even say who she was." Martha sounded a little let down.

Taylor let out the breath she forgot she was holding. Apparently, Chad hadn't told them anything. Why, she didn't know. She silently berated herself for not being thankful.

"If she's hidden who she was for all these years," she told Martha reasonably. "Then why would she tell now? It really doesn't matter that she quit."

"I would have loved to know who she was," Zeke said.

"Or he," Gabby put in.

"It can't believe she's really gone," Sharpay said with a loud sniff.

"Sharpay," Taylor said shocked. "Are you crying?"

"No," she said, rubbing her eyes which made no one believe her.

"Now what are we going to do on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays," Ryan asked.

"Homework, maybe." Taylor couldn't believe that her friends were actually mourning the lost of probably the most vicious writer on the face of the earth. At one time or another they had been mentioned in Gossip World and it wasn't always in a nice way.

Before her friends could say anymore, she spoke up. "Do you all realize how ridiculous you're all being? You're acting like your best friend just moved away. We didn't even know who he or she was. We all said that they were probably in our grade, so they would have had to stop. And even if they aren't, we're seniors, remember? We leave in a few months, so we wouldn't read it anyway."Sighing, Gabby said, "You're right. Taylor's the only voice of reason here. We had to let go sometime."

They talked a for little while longer, then everyone, but Taylor, who still had to go to her locker, decided to go to homeroom early. As Taylor finally went to her locker and started to gather her things, the warning bell rang for homeroom. Taylor wasn't able to gather all of her things until the hallway was mostly deserted.

Finally, Taylor closed the door to her locker and came face to face with Chad. A thousand different things had ran threw Taylor's head at what to say to Chad. She had come up with a lot of different things to say to him. From to joking it off, to denying she had said anything. But now that she was looking Chad right in his eyes, her mind went completely blank.

After a few seconds of silence, Chad started to speak. "Umm…hey Taylor."

When she still didn't say anything, he started again. "Hey, about the other night…"

Before he could say anything further, Taylor went into action. "The bell's going to ring soon. We can't be late for Darbus' class." She quickly started to walk away.

"Wait a minute," he said catching up with her. "I need to talk to you about what you said."

"No you don't," she replied. "And my balcony doors are locked so don't bother with those."

By then, they had gotten to their homeroom and Taylor was thankful that he wouldn't be able to speak to her for awhile.

--

It turned out that she was able to avoid Chad until lunch that day. They all had begun sitting at the same lunch table a few weeks ago. It was never a problem for Taylor because by then she had stopped talking to Chad. The rest of there friends made sure that they never sat next to each other, they always worried that they might give up on the silent treatment.

Unfortunately, Taylor and Chad were the first to arrive at the lunch table. Taylor didn't understand why they had to be technically alone together after she confessed that she loved him.

As it happened, she didn't even notice him until he sat down right next to her. When she realized it was him, she tried to get up to move, but he stopped her by putting his hand on hers.

"Are you ever going to talk to me," he asked her seriously.

"Didn't have plans on it," she said and she eased her hand from under his. "I think that I said more than I ever needed to a few nights ago."

"That's what I want to talk about," he replied. "we just can't act like you didn't say anything."

"I don't see why not," she said. She was perfectly fine with doing that. "I have no problems ignoring the white elephant in the room."

He sighed. "Taylor be serious. Maybe you can ignore someone telling you they love you, but I can't."

"Can we please not talk about it," she asked, almost pleading. "I shouldn't have said it and I would take it back if I could but I can't. Nothing's changed. You still have the same opinion of me that you did this time last week."

"No I don't," he denied.

"Sorry, I'm easier now, my mistake."

"Do you really think that I would use what you said to me to get you into bed?" He sounded hurt.

She just shrugged her shoulders. "Whether you would or wouldn't, I would be able to trust you. You don't want to be seen in public with me, remember? So it's null and void."

"What if I said that I wanted to be with you? In public, that I didn't care what other people said about it."

Taylor felt a spurt of hope at his words. But she quickly squashed it. He was only saying that, he didn't mean it.

Before she could answer, their friends sat down at the table. It surprised her that no one said anything about them being so close together and not arguing. Chad must have told his friends something. Then they told the girls and that's why-

"I didn't tell them anything," she heard him mumble to her.

"Why," she mumbled back suspiciously.

"Because its our business, not theirs."

That stopped Taylor. She didn't think that he would keep it to himself. Maybe what he said was true. Still, something in Taylor wouldn't let herself believe it.

She sat quietly as the conversation flowed around her. She noticed that Chad wasn't talking much either, but acted like she didn't.

Suddenly, the cafeteria started to buzz with everyone talking at once. Looking up, she saw that Becky was calling everyone's attention to her at the top of the stairs.

"Excuse me everyone, but I have an announcement to make."

Taylor didn't think that anything Becky had to say would mean anything to her, but she listened anyway.

"As you all know, our favorite gossip column has written it's last column today. I know that everyone wished that they would have unmasked Miss Gossip, and I have a confession to make."

At Becky's last statement, she hear Martha say, "I don't think I'm going to like where this is going."

Taylor wholeheartedly agreed with her.

"Now I know that most of you will be a little mad at me," Becky said. "But I am Miss Gossip!"

After that, the cafeteria erupted in noise. Some people were outraged, while others were unbelieving. Taylor knew that Becky wasn't Miss Gossip. Becky was not smart enough to be Miss Gossip. She probably couldn't write a two paragraph paper let alone a gossip column every other day. She heard her friends voicing the same opinion.

"There's no way in hell that she's Miss Gossip," Jason said.

"Shar, that bitch is not getting one cent of our money," Ryan told his sister.

"I know Ryan, I feel the same way," Sharpay said. She was shooting daggers with her eyes to Becky, who was walking towards Taylor's table with a big smile on her face.

When she reached it, she just stood there with a smile on her face that Taylor would have happily punched off.

"Can we help you," Sharpay said, giving her a look if disdain.

"I'm here to collect my reward money," Becky said happily. "I'd prefer it in cash if you don't mind."

Sharpay looked like she wanted to jump on Becky.

Thankfully, Zeke wrapped his arm around her to keep her still.

"Prove it," Ryan told Becky, giving her the same look that his sister did.

Becky's smile faltered a little. "What," she asked

"You heard him," Taylor said. "Prove that you're Miss Gossip. Then they'll give you the money."

Becky glared at Taylor. "I don't know what this has to do with you. Why don't you go back to whatever book you were most likely reading."

"I don't like people who lie to my friends. And if I were you, I'd watch what I'd say. Has your hair grown back yet? I seem to remember having quite a bit in my hands."

Becky's eyes flashed, but she turned away from Taylor. "I still want my reward," she said to Ryan and Sharpay. "Or were you lying about the money?"

"No, we didn't lie," Ryan said. "We just don't believe you."

"That's not my problem," Becky said. "I still want my money."

Sharpay actually jumped up in her seat, but Zeke firmly sat her back down. Taking a deep breath, Sharpay said coolly, "You have one week to prove that you're Miss Gossip. If you can't, then you don't get anything."

"Fine," Becky said. "I'll bring you proof and then I want my money."

After she walked away, Taylor couldn't contain her opinion. "That stupid whore can't really believe that you're just going to give her the money without any proof."

"Apparently she does," Gabby said. "Did you see her face when Ryan told her to prove it?"

"No one else does either," Jason said. "She must need the money."

"Wants," Chad spoke up. "Not needs, her parents are pretty well off, but they won't give her anymore than her allowance because she blows threw it."

"Occupation, gold digger," Kelsie said, which got a laugh from everyone but Taylor. She still couldn't believe that Becky would lie like that.

"But you guys," Troy said. "What happens if she does bring you proof?"

"She won't," Sharpay said firmly. "Even if she does, I'll do my damnest to disprove it. Slut isn't getting one penny on my money."

Taylor remained silent as the others talked about what just happened. She was thinking of everything to disprove her nemesis. She was thinking about pushing her down the stairs when the bell ending lunch rang. Getting up, she knew that she was going to hear more about this subject as the day went on.

**i no this one wasnt very long, but i had 2 shorten b/c i decided 2 make another chapter. ne way, yes miss gossip is gone. we'll all miss her. ne way i'm only done with chapter 9 and havent even started on 10 yet so i'll try to hurry**

**kialajaray**


	9. the piece of paper

**ok this is my favorite chapter. i dont no why, but i loved the way this chapter flowed 2gether. ok, i have to go get ready for work. so go and read it, u no you wanna**

* * *

Two days later, Taylor gather her things after she finished grading her math teacher's papers and made her way out of the school. As usual, the school was deserted and Taylor was glad that she didn't have to put on an act for anyone.

Chad was still trying to talk to her. Thankfully, he wasn't as determined as he used to be. He didn't try to sneak into her room, or pull her into any empty rooms. He would still try to talk to her, but not as doggedly as he usually did.

Taylor was angry with herself because that made her slightly sad. She didn't understand it. Isn't that what she wanted? Wasn't it? She didn't know anymore. Everything was confused in her head. She wanted to be with him, to talk to him, but at the same time, she didn't.

She knew what had her confused. Part of her wanted to believe him when he said that he wanted to be with her, and not just on a secret sex buddy level. But then, her rational side said that it was just a ploy he was using to get to her.

The person that she thought he was a short time ago would have had her agreeing with her rational side. But her other side, she liked to call it her stupid side, didn't want to accept that. Maybe it was because of all the recent intimacy that they shared.

Either way, she knew that her head was at conflict with her heart, and she had a sinking feeling that her heart was winning. With any other guy, it wouldn't be a problem. But with Chad, she had to worry if she would be making the biggest mistake of her life if she believed him.

As she walked to the exit doors, a hand suddenly grabbed her arm. Jumping, she dropped her things and turned to see who it was.

She knew that she shouldn't have been surprised when she saw Chad, but she was anyway. Wanting to avoid the conversation that she knew was coming, she dropped down to her knees and snapped at him. "Thanks for knocking all my books down."

Dropping down next to her, he said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to. But this is the only way I could think of where I could talk to you and you couldn't get away."

"Have you been stalking me," she asked, not as outraged as she would have liked.

Rolling his eyes, he picked up one of her books. "I'm going to ignore that. I wish you would just talk to me."

She started gathering her things faster. "If I wanted to talk to you, I would have done so already."

Standing, she took the rest of her things from him. "Thank you, but I have to go now," she told him.

Running his hand threw his hair, he said, "If I have to tie you down, I'm going to talk to you."

"You can try it," she shot back.

"You never know," he said. "You might like it." Giving her a smile, he glanced down and saw a paper that they had missed.

Bending down, he picked it up. Taylor realized what paper it was. "Thank you," she said trying to get it from him.

"What are you going to give me for it," he asked her with a mischievous grin.

"Nothing," she said. She tried not to panic. "Please give it to me."

"Wow, you're being nice. I wonder what's on here that's so top secret." Looking down at the paper, he said, "Maybe it'll help me find a way to…"

By the way his voice trailed off, she could tell that he started to read what was on the paper. Taylor had to leave immediately. Not bothering to say anything, she made a dash out the door, and as she made her way out, she heard Chad say, "Oh my God."

Going even faster, she made it to her car in record time. She didn't bother to look back as she put her car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot.

--

A few hours later, Taylor walked back and forward on her bedroom floor. What was she going to do now? Say that it wasn't hers maybe? No, that wouldn't work. If it wasn't hers then she wouldn't have asked for it.

Or, she could say that she didn't write it. No, that wouldn't work either. It was in her handwriting.

Taylor ran her hands threw her hair, frustrated. She had went threw just about every scenario that she could possibly think of to say to Chad. He was going to be furious, she knew it. Whatever progress she made with him, she had completely lost it now. He wouldn't believe anything that she had to say now.

She dreaded her next encounter with him.

It came sooner than she thought. The next instant, Chad came bursting threw her balcony doors. She was to occupied with what happened earlier to remember to lock her doors.

She just stared at him, while he looked angrily back at her. "Do you mind telling me what this is," he said angrily holding up the piece of paper that had caused all these problems.

She opened her mouth to give an answer, but he cut her off. "Do you know what it says?"

Of course she knew what it said. She had spent the last two days agonizing on what exactly to say. Again, she opened her mouth to answer, but again, he cut her off.

Holding up the paper, he started to read. "Dear EHS, I have loved to write for you for all these years. And when I decided to stop writing, I would have never imagined the horrendous event that would occur. Whether someone, or myself unveils who I am, I am not sure. But all I have to say is that I, Miss Gossip, am _not_ Miss Rebecca Sterling!"

After he finished reading, it balled the paper up and threw it on the floor. "I can't believe it," he said. Taylor still didn't like his tone.

"You're Miss Gossip. I can't believe it. _You._"

His emphasis on the word you pushed her a little to far.

"And why is that such a surprise? Because that wouldn't fit the bookish, nerdy image that you have of me?"

"Don't try to put words in my mouth," he yelled back. "And don't try to change the subject. You must have had a big laugh when we were all talking about who it could be."

"No," she defended. "It wasn't like that."

Folding his arms, he said, "Then what was it like?"

"I've been writing for four years. I'm used to people talking about her. At first, I was terrified every time someone brought it. I thought that they would figure out it was me. But then, after awhile, people stopped caring so much about who she was, so I didn't have to worry. When we all were talking about it, I couldn't accuse myself, now could I? What would have been the point of keeping it a secret."

"How did you pull it off," he asked her. Taylor gave a little sigh of relief, he didn't sound as angry as he did when he first showed up.

"I would write about things that I saw in heard in school. When we were freshmen, I barely had any friends and I had always loved writing and been good at it. No one would pay attention to the nerdy science girl. I would hear everything. And the things that I didn't, I would hear from my brother or my sisters. One day, my brother Toby was going threw my room, and he found what I wrote. He loved it and convinced me to write more of it. It turned out that his best friend's uncle ran a printing company. And as a favor to him, he would print what I wrote. Then after I had published a few issues, I talked to the principal, and since I was such a good student, and I wasn't lying about anything, he said that I could keep writing, just as long as I barely wrote about him."

"How didn't your family know about this?" he asked. "I remember that it didn't always say nice things about them, or you."

She shrugged. "They had their own things. They just figured I was doing homework in my room. And I couldn't not write anything about them. Someone would have noticed that I never mentioned myself or them."

"Do you understand how many people you've insulted and blabbed about? How many of your so called friends you've insulted?"

"It's not like that," she repeated. "Yes, I've said some things that they would have preferred to keep quiet, but I never said anything bad about them. And if I have it was only the truth. I didn't even put you down unnecessarily."

Chad did not like her answer. "And the only reason that you didn't was because you care about me."

That hurt Taylor more than she thought possible. "That's not true. I would write if you and Becky were having problems, or what ever else was going on with you. I didn't lie."

"But you didn't hold back the punches with Becky did you?"

She let out a loud sigh. "Becky is a bitch. She's a bad person and there isn't one good quality about her. I'm not going to go out of my way to put her in good light when she doesn't deserve it."

"Speaking of her," he said, as if he just thought of something. "Why didn't you just let her take the fall?"

That thought turned Taylor's stomach. "There's no way in a cold hell that I would let her take credit for Gossip World"

"So you want to get caught," he asked disbelievingly.

"Of course not," she told him. Walking over to the piece of paper on the floor, she picked it up. "I didn't admit who I was. I just said that I wasn't Becky. She isn't going to get credit for it."

"It was your way out," he told her. Obviously he didn't understand what she was saying. "With every issue you write, people are going to want to know who you are more and more. Especially since you want to publish this. Is it the money, or the fame that you got over on everyone in the school."

"I don't care about that Chad." She wanted to desperately to make him see. "The money doesn't matter. If it did, I would have turned myself in months ago. And it's not the fame. I know that I can't ever reveal that I'm Miss Gossip. But I'll be damned if I let Becky take the credit for it."

"Why does it matter," he asked. "Just let it go. Someone was going to admit to it. You knew it wasn't going to be you, so why does it matter that Becky said she was Miss Gossip."

She sighed. He wouldn't ever understand. "How would you feel if…" she searched for a name. "How would you feel if Brandon took all the credit for you basketball skills?"

"That's not the same."

Taylor was ready to pull her hair out. "I'm not talking about this any more. I had planned Monday's column to be the last, but this one is. And I won't publish any more. Not matter how many people say that they're Miss Gossip."

Jerking the paper out of her hand, he said, "No you aren't"

"Excuse me?" She must have heard him wrong.

"Do you want to get caught?"

"Haven't we been over that I don't?" Taylor felt like they were talking in circles.

"You aren't going to publish it." The superior look on his face would have made Taylor laugh if she didn't want to punch him.

"Last time I checked, my father was at work." She had to set him straight.

"I don't care. Taylor, I mean it. You can't publish this." Taking the paper he put it in his pocket.

She shrugged. "I know it word for word any way."

"You can't be serious," he said. "You could get caught. Do you understand that?"

"No, I won't. Do you understand that?"

From the look he gave her, she could tell that he didn't like to be mocked. "Do you know how many people are going to want to fight you for publishing this?"

"Don't be stupid," she told him. "No one is going to want to fight me."

"You must not remember everything that you've said about people. There are people that will want to get revenge for what you wrote."

Taylor shook her head. He was being stupid. "That didn't happen with Becky. No one wanted to fight her. So they aren't going to want to fight me."

"It's not the same thing," Chad said tiredly. "Becky is different and-"

He abruptly stopped when he saw Taylor's face.

"Different? Because I'm not popular and 'loved' like her?" Taylor had never been so angry in her life.

"I didn't mean it like that Taylor-"

"Yes you did," she cut him off. "You know that you did. Since Becky has followers everyone will have a good laugh and pat her hand and say good job. But with _me_, me, the little nerdy nobody, I'd be seen as petty and jealous of others. Nice to know that you see me like that."

She hadn't even realized that she crying until she felt a tear roll off her face. Angrily wiping at them, she turned away from him. She wasn't going to let him see her cry. "Just leave, alright?" She stopped and took a deep breath when she heard her voice crack.

Starting again she said, "This conversation is finished. Please just go."

"Taylor, don't cry." Chad walked to her and put his hand on her arm. She jerked away from him and went to her bed. "I didn't mean that Becky was better than you."

Going to her, he sat down next to her and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry," he said again.

"It's fine," she said shrugging. "It's not that you haven't said anything like that before. I don't know why I'm not immune to it."

"Can we not talk about that right now?" He turned to face her fully. "That doesn't have anything to do with this. I don't think that Becky's better than you. What I meant when I said that she was different was that everyone is used to her being a gossip and not caring who she hurt. It wouldn't really change anything if she really was Miss Gossip. But with you, they would never expect it from you because you're a kind and caring person. People would think that you've been lying to them about everything and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Why," she asked him.

"Why what?"

"Why don't you want to see me get hurt?" She was thankful that she was born a girl. Boys were too confusing. All his actions had shown that he didn't care for other than in the physical sense. Why would he care if she got hurt?

"You never cared before, why now?" If she had to, she would wait until doomsday for the answer.

"Things have changed between us Taylor. You know it, no matter how much you try to deny it. With the things that have happened between us, do you think that I wouldn't care what happens to you?"

It wasn't a declaration of love, and Taylor honestly didn't expect one. But she was happy enough for the moment with it. Deliberately not thinking of the ramifications of her actions, she kissed Chad hard on the mouth.

After getting over the shock, Chad wrapped his hands around her hips and pulled her closer to him. Slanting his mouth over hers again and again. She felt his hands run up her sides, sending shivers in their wake. When his hands reached her breasts, he gently ran his thumbs across her nipples, causing them to harden.

Groaning with pleasure, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and took the kiss deeper. Taking him with her, she laid down, ending up with him on top of her. She ran her hands down his back while they kissed each other. When he went to end the kiss, Taylor's lips chased after his and started the anew.

Finally, he was able to break the kiss. He leaned up and looked down at her. "I don't think this is a good idea."

As he made to get off her, she tightened her grip on him. "I think this is a wonderful idea."

He stared at her hard for a moment then said, "Taylor, do you understand what you're saying? If I stay then-"

She cut him off with a quick kiss. "I know exactly what I'm saying. I want you to stay, I want _you_. I'm tired of fighting it."

She went to pull him into another kiss, but he resisted. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life." She knew that she might regret it later, but right now she didn't care. What she told him was true, she was tired of acting like she didn't want him and acting like there wasn't anything between them. And hearing that, in not so many words, that he cared for her, she couldn't explain it. Her only excuse was the she was emotionally raw and Chad was the only one who could fix it. She would think about tomorrow when it came.

Wanting to show him she was serious, she took his mouth in another breath stealing kiss. Tugging at his shirt, she tried to pull his shirt off of him while not breaking the kiss.

Finally, Chad leaned up and broke the kiss. Pulling his shirt over his head, he threw it on her floor and went back to kissing her. As he kissed her, he ran his hand under her shirt and bra and cupped her breast.

Groaning when he squeezed, her breath caught in her throat when his thumb made circles around her breast, getting smaller and smaller with every rotation. When his thumb finally made contact with her nipple, she arched into him with a moan from deep in her throat.

Her clothes were stifling. She couldn't breath with them on. Breaking the kiss, she sat up and jerk her shirt off, not caring when she heard the fabric rip. Throwing to the floor, she wrapped her arms around Chad and shudder when she felt his skin on hers. Taylor had never imagined that anything could feel this good.

Pushing him down, she fumbled unsuccessfully with the zipper of his pants. Pushing her hands away, he undid the snap zipper and got rid his jean and underwear in one movement. Before she could admire his body, he pushed her down and the rest of her clothes were gone in an instant.

The next thing Taylor knew, Chad was over her and kissing her. She felt him give a shudder of pleasure when she ran her hands down her back. She quickly took control of the kiss when she thrust her tongue against his. Cupping his face, she kept him there while his hands did things that made her body go crazy.

Settling between her legs, he took the kiss deeper as he pushed inside of her. Taylor instantly froze at the foreign feeling. Keeping still, she tried to get accustomed to the new feeling.

Chad, sensing her discomfort, kept still until she started to relax. Then he pushed all the way and she tensed as she made a small sound of pain. Freezing again, Chad leaned down and kiss her passionately while his hand stroke up and down her leg. Relaxing again, she started to return the kiss.

Chad retreated until he almost left her then he slowly reentered her. All the pleasure she had felt didn't come close to what she was feeling now. Giving a soft cry of pleasure, she raised herself to meet him. Leaving her mouth, Chad made a trail of kisses down her neck as he caressed her breast and rolled a peaked nipple with two of his fingers, causing her to squirm under him.

The pleasure went on as they met each other thrust for thrust until something changed in both of them that had them moving at a frenzied pace. Taylor poured everything into her kiss with Chad when suddenly, waves of pleasure filled her. Chad wasn't far behind as he froze over her and made a low growl.

He slumped against Taylor while they tried to catch their breaths. Not ready for the real world to intrude, she hugged Chad tightly to her. She wished they could stay like that forever, but already the real world was intruding. She knew that when she told him that this was what she wanted that she wasn't going to expect anything other than this. Why should she? He hadn't made any promises. Just because he said he didn't want her hurt, that didn't mean that he wanted to be with her, in a public sense anyway.

After laying there for a few minutes, Chad went up to his elbows. Looking down at her, he said, "I didn't hurt you did I?"

Taylor wanted to cry. How could she not at his question? Blinking rapidly, she shook her head and smiled at him. "I'm fine. It didn't hurt other than a little at the beginning. Other than that, it was wonderful."

Giving her a quick kiss, he rolled off her and pulled her to him. "I thought it was more than wonderful. You're the smart one. What's a better word than wonderful?"

"Amazing, extraordinary, astounding, incredible, marvelous. Do you want me to continue?"

"No," he said smiling at her. "I get it. It was all of that and more."

They stayed in a peaceful silence as Taylor's mind raced. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she should wait for him to awkwardly leave, or for her to awkwardly ask him to leave. And how would she tell him that she didn't expect anything for him?

Sitting up, she wrapped the sheets around her. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Chad, I want you to know that, I know…this doesn't change anything."

Sitting up next to her, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," she said. "I don't expect anything from you. I don't want you to think that it I think it does."

"So what just happened," he started. Taylor could tell by his voice that he was angry. "You think that it doesn't mean anything to me? Did I get that right?"

"No, I'm not saying that. But, I was the one who initiated what happened. I knew fully that you didn't want anything more. So don't think that I expect anything."

Without saying anything, Chad jerked away from her and got off the bed. As he roughly pulled on his clothes, she asked "Where are you going?"

He hadn't wasted any time leaving. After she gave him the all clear, he couldn't get out of there fast enough. With a heavy heart, she realized that she had set her hopes on maybe he cared about her more than he was saying. That maybe what just happened really did change something. But apparently it didn't.

"I'm to angry to talk to you right now. When I calm down then I'll talk to you."

"Angry," she asked confused. Why would he be angry? She let him off the hook.

"Yes angry."

"Why?"

"Why," he repeated in a near shout. "After we just make love you tell me you don't expect anything from me and you know that I didn't want anything else. You wouldn't get mad if someone told you that?"

Taylor didn't understand him at all. Voicing her opinion, she said, "Weren't you the one who said that you wanted to keep this a secret?"

"That was before Taylor!" She had never seen him son angry before. Even threw all the numerous fights they had had. He looked like he wanted to kill her. This isn't how she wanted the most perfect night of her life to end.

"I don't want to fight Chad," she said trying to defuse the situation.

"Good, neither do I, that's why I'm leaving." By then he had finished dressing, and now was looking for his shoes.

"I don't understand why you're angry," she said as he made his way to her balcony doors. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

After opening the door, she stopped and turned to her. "You know," he said not angry like before. "You said that you loved me. And I believed you. I really did, but if that's the kind of person you think I am, then you can keep your love. Believe me, I don't want it."

With that, he slammed out of her room, leaving Taylor to stare dumbfounded at the place where he just stood.

* * *

**is ne one shocked that taylor was miss gossip. for a long time, i couldnt figure out if i wanted to make a series about all the couples and have chad and taylor be the last one. i always knew that i wanted taylor to be miss gossip though. and they made love! did anyone see that one coming? i didnt until i wrote it. i wonder whats gonna happen thursday. **

**ok, so here's the deal. i havent even STARTED writing chapter 10 yet. but i know exactly what i want to write so when i get back from work i'll try to write it then. so please review and i hope you like it.**


	10. Chapter 10

**ok im so sorrie. this was supposed to be up hours but the computer was bein stupid. ne way i dont like this chapter. its the shortest out of the al barely over 4 pages. i couldnt see how to make the story ne longer. and honestly, i'm tired of them not being together. ne way here it is.**

* * *

Later was longer than Taylor had expected. When she arrived at school, she wasn't in the best of moods. After spending most of the night trying to figure out how a boy's mind worked, she finally was able to fall asleep and get in a few hours of it. Then, when she woke up, she felt the soreness and the pulling muscles as a reminder of what happened between her and Chad. Now she had to deal with it all day. Needless to say, today wasn't going to be a good day.

When she met her friends, Taylor quickly saw that Chad wasn't with them. It didn't matter anyway, she reminded herself. She wouldn't be able to talk to him about last night in front of them. Fighting her annoyance with Chad, she put a smile on her face and greeted her friends.

"Hey Taylor," Gabby said. "I tried calling you last night, where were you?"

Busy sleeping with Chad. "My phone died and I never charged it, sorry."

She listened and commented minimally on her friends' conversation wanting to badly ask where Chad was, but knew that she couldn't. By the time it was time for them to go to homeroom, Taylor was ready to kill Chad. He knew that she would want to talk to him, so for him not to show up had Taylor seeing red.

As she fumed, she didn't pay much attention to what her friends were saying until she heard Troy say, "…Yeah, he called me last night and said that he wouldn't be here today, but he wouldn't say why."

It was official, Taylor knew it was going to be a horrible day.

--

The day got even worse when she saw Becky as she was coming from the bathroom during class.

"Well if it isn't Little Miss Nobody," Becky said with a sneer.

Taylor sighed. She did not want to deal with Becky today. "Go away Becky," she said. "I don't have time to deal with you right now."

Walking away, she heard Becky call, "Well, aren't we all high and mighty. I wonder what would happen if everyone found out that Chad cheated on me with you. What do you think people would say to that."

Taylor stopped. Calm down, she told herself. Becky didn't _know_ anything. She just assumed. "I don't know what you're talking about Becky," she said feigning innocence. "Whatever happened between you and Chad is your business but it doesn't have anything to do with me. Why don't you go find some proof that you're Miss Gossip. You know you're week is almost up." And if Taylor had anything to do with it, she wouldn't even get a chance.

She saw Becky's eyes flash, but she smiled as she said, "Are you jealous Taylor?"

Taylor laughed. "You have know idea Becky."

Becky gave her a pitying look. "I know the your tiny little excuse of an existence in this school is hard to accept, but that's just something you have to deal with. I have the boy and the fame. Some people have it all and some don't."

"What boy," she asked, afraid of the answer.

Becky gave her an evil laugh. "It's only a matter of time before I take Chad back. He can't stay away from me."

Taylor felt like something was squeezing all of the air out of her lungs. "I wish the best for you." Without another word, Taylor turned from Becky and walked away. Becky was lying, she had to be. If Chad wanted to get back with Becky, he wouldn't have reacted the way he did last night, would he. Becky never said that he was trying to get her back, did she?

Taking deep breathes, prayed that she could make it threw the rest of the day without going insane.

--

The next day, Taylor got a late start to school, and wasn't able to see her friends until lunch, and Chad was with them. And the only spot left was right next to him.

Sitting down, she greeted her friends. She still hadn't decided whether to ignore Chad or not. She had spent another sleepless night thinking about what Becky had said. It would have been easier to just ask him about it when it happened, but the ass wasn't there when she wanted him to be.

"I need to talk to you," he said to her. He didn't mumble it as usual, but their friends were to involved with each other to notice.

"That's funny, because I need to talk to you."

"If it's about Miss Gossip, then-"

"No," she said. "It's not."

"Then what is it about?"

"Are you going to get back with Becky?" The only way she could think of to ask the question was bluntly.

"What," he asked. To her he sounded astonished, but maybe he was just acting.

"I said-"

"I heard what you said." He seemed more shocked than upset. "Where did that come from?"

"Yesterday Becky said that-" He cut her off again.

"You actually believed something that Becky said?"

"So, it's not true?" She tried not to sound relieved, but she was and she knew that he could that she was.

Smiling, he said, "No it's not true. I'm not with her, but that's what I wanted to talk about with you. I-"

Suddenly there was a buzzing of conversation at the cafeteria's entrance. Then Taylor heard, "Oh my God! Miss Gossip has another column!"

As everyone read that Becky wasn't Miss Gossip, Taylor saw her sneak out of the cafeteria. Looking at her friends, she saw they were all laughing and talking about it. Then, three different things happened at once.

First, Jason kissed Kelsie, who immediately kissed him back. Second, Martha grabbed Ryan's face with both her hands, kissed him hard, and hugged him. Ryan was to stunned to do anything but let her. And Third, Troy and Gabby both leaned into a kiss at the same time, and it didn't look like they were going to stop anytime soon.

Taylor was happy for her friends, but seeing that, it made her see something that she wanted, but wouldn't ever have. Without saying anything, she got up, and left the cafeteria.

Walking threw the halls, she heard the students talking about the latest, and last, column. She was proud to know that her writing had had such an affect on people. Even if it was a gossip column. She could only imagine how many people would say that they were Miss Gossip now. It would either be everyone, or no one. They might be to afraid of being out-ed by her. Either way, as long as it wasn't Becky she didn't care.

Somehow, that brought her mind back to Chad. She accepted the fact now that-

"Taylor," she heard him call from behind her.

Turning, she said, "Look, I know that you didn't want me to publish it. But it really doesn't matter now, so can we please skip the fight about it?"

Grabbing her arm, Chad pulled her to him, and kissed her hard. Taylor's mind couldn't wrap around the idea that he was kissing her in a crowded hallway of the school. As soon as the kiss ended, she had every intention of pinching herself to see if this was real or not.

Pulling away from her, he looked down and said, "Is this public enough for you?"

"I…I." Not one complete thought was able to form in her mind.

"I knew it!," a voice from behind Chad yelled.

Looking over Chad's shoulder, Taylor saw all their friends looking at them with a variety of facial expressions. Sharpay looked bored, Gabby, who had called out, had a huge smile on her face, so did Martha, Ryan, and Kelsie. The basketball players looked completely shocked.

"It's about time," Sharpay said to them.

Turning to her, Gabby looked at her accusingly. "Do you know something that I don't?"

She shrugged. "Just maybe."

Taylor tuned her friends out Chad said, "We're still going to argue about what you did with Gossip World. You know that right?"

"If this is real, you can yell at me all you want. I don't really care."

Laughing, he said, "I know that I went about this wrong from the start. It's just that I had my stupid views cliques and not mixing. Then, when everything happened with you, I didn't want to admit that I actually cared about you. I couldn't stop thinking about you and I thought that maybe if we slept together, that it would go away. Every time I would start an argument with, even before the time Kelsie walked in on us in the classroom-"

"Walked in on what," Troy asked outraged. Turning to Kelsie he said, "Why weren't we told about this?"

Taylor then realized that their friends were listening to what they were saying.

"And why would she have anything to do with Gossip World," Sharpay asked. Then realization dawned on her. "You _aren't._"

She waved them away. "I'll explain later." Looking back at Chad, she said, "You were saying?"

"Even before then," he started again. He darted a look to his friends, and took Taylor's arm and moved a few feet away from them. "I knew that I didn't feel the same way about you like I was acting. But you acted the same way, so I thought that you didn't care. And after everything, when I asked you to keep us a secret, I still didn't want to admit that I had feelings for you. And when you turned me down, I thought that you didn't feel the same way."

"I did, it's just-"

"Let me finish," he said. "That's why I got all defensive. And when I saw you in the park with Brandon, I wanted to kill him. And later, when you told me that you loved me, I didn't know how to react. I handled the whole situation wrong. Can you forgive me?"

"I don't know," she said feigning seriousness. "There was excitement when I thought that you didn't care, it wont be the same."

He rolled his eyes. "I could blackmail you."

She eyed him warily. "How? Our friends know that I'm Miss Gossip now. What do you have over me?"

"Maybe that you wear Power Puff Girl pajamas," he said laughing at her.

Hitting his arm, she said, "Shut up. If my brothers knew that they would kill you."

Kissing her, he said, "I'd die happy. I love you, Taylor McKessie."

Giving him a watery smile, she said, "I love you, Chadwick Danforth."

* * *

**ok so that you to everyone who read and like my story. again, i didnt like the way it ended, but i guess it's ok. i'm thinking about writing a zekepay oneshot. im not sure about that yet though. ne way, thank you again.**

**kialajaray**


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